Faction before Blood
by hannahhh15
Summary: Phoenix was born & raised in abnegation but she never felt she fitted in there, she never fully felt truly selfless even though she was raised & taught to so when she transfers to dauntless her eyes are opened to a completely different world. Almost immediately she clashes with a certain dauntless leader who seams intent on making her life hell! Please give it a chance!
1. Chapter 1

***** DISCLAIMER ***  
**

 **I own NOTHING regarding the divergent series e.g. the books/the movies  
The only things I own are my own characters that I've created.**

 _ **A/N:** I started writing this fic a while ago and was on the fence about publishing it, I've always loved the divergent books and movies and I had an idea so I decided to write it down.  
There will be some recognizable characters in this fic but there will be no Tris or her friends, this story takes place before the first movie which it's mainly based on rather than the books because the movies usually never include everything from the books however there are some aspects of the books in place in this story too._

* * *

"The future belongs to those who know where they belong." Jeanine Matthews said.

Those were the concluding words of her speech, the same speech she had given the previous years, she then swiftly disappeared off the stage and was replaced by an abnegation man who introduced himself as Andrew Prior.

Before the man began the introduction of the choosing ceremony he briefly welcomed the audience and then explained that he was filling in for Marcus Eaton who was unfortunately unable to attend the event, as he continued to speak however Phoenix's mind began to drift.

She thought about the test from the day before and the result she received, she then glanced over at amity where they sat to the left and she scanned over the faces slowly until her father quietly clearing his throat grabbed her attention, she faced forward once more to look at Andrew prior who had already began calling out names and his voice gradually became a blur as her mind started todrift off once more, she found her thoughts drifting back to the year before.

oOo

 _Phoenix sat with her family in the building where the choosing ceremony was held amongst the rest of their abnegation faction, beside them were the factions amity, erudite, candor and dauntless._

 _This year the leader of amity, Johanna, had the job of calling out the names of the people choosing and she wasted no time in getting the ceremony started, before Phoenix new it three people had already been called up to choose and they had each chosen to stay in their faction of birth._

 _She applauded softly when it was appropriate to do so along with her parents and brother, the choosing ceremony could last up to an hour or two, sometimes longer than that so she kept her focus on Johanna and made sure to listen to every name that was read out._

 _The previous year she'd gotten an extremely sore back and even accidentally let out a yawn, her mother had not been impressed by this in the slightest, the yawn was really more from lack of sleep than it had been out of boredom._

 _It was now forty minutes into the ceremony and she was wishing that she had stayed at home, her parents did say she and her brother could but he had told them that he wanted to go...so here they were._

 _She pulled her eyes from Johanna and turned her head to look at her father sitting beside her, a beat passed before he turned his own head and gave her a brief smile of understanding as he patted her hand, she smiled back at him, he always seamed to know exactly what she was thinking without her having to say a word._

" _Patrick Holdsworth." Johanna's voice called out._

 _Phoenix's eyes widened and shot to the leader of amity upon hearing the name, she was convinced she'd misheard what was said but hearing her mother's almost inaudible cry of anguish confirmed for her that she hadn't._

 _She slowly turned her head from Johanna to look at her brother who was sat on her other side, he was staring ahead with an unreadable expression on his face and their mother beside him was trying not to break down in tears._

 _Time seamed to slow down as Patrick then stood up from his seat followed by their mother and father and eventually Phoenix herself, their mother touched his arm briefly before he started to move to get out of the isle they were sat in._

" _Patrick." Phoenix whispered to him as he passed her but he ignored her and continued walking, she wanted to reach out and grab him to demand what was going on but she seamed to suddenly be immobilized, all she could do was watch him go._

 _Their father took a hold of his hand and shook it before he stepped passed him, he didn't acknowledge the handshake in any way, he just made his way down the stairs towards the ceremony bowls that were lined up on the stage beside Johanna._

 _Phoenix and her parents each sat back down slowly and looked amongst one another with similar expressions on their faces, this was a complete shock, Patrick was not supposed to be choosing today._

 _How was it even possible? It wasn't, it couldn't be...he hadn't even taken the test!_

 _Neither of them had._

" _Candor." Johanna announced and there was an applause from the factions._

 _Phoenix and her parents sat still as they were surrounded by a brief applause and some quiet murmuring amongst the rest of abnegation._

 _She stared at her brother as he walked towards his new faction and he didn't look in her or their parents direction, he didn't look in abnegation's direction at all, he just kept walking and took the seat that was offered to him when he approached._

 _Johanna moved swiftly onto the next person that would be choosing once Patrick was seated and Phoenix looked down at her hands that were now clasped tightly in her lap when she felt tears beginning to form in her eyes._

 _The tears though weren't particularly tears of sadness, they were more of anger._

 _She was angry because she didn't see it coming...she had no idea that he would do this to them...to her._

 _How could he...how could he do it._

 _Phoenix turned her head to look at her mother and saw the woman inhale a long, deep breath before she exhaled and formed a smile on her face, a smile that didn't reach her eyes._

 _Phoenix leaned towards her a little and was about to speak but her mother immediately shushed her and made a gesture for her to pay attention to the ceremony and with a frown she did as her mother wanted._

 _Her fists then gradually began to clench as she sat there, did her mom really expect them to just sit through the rest of this ceremony acting as if the fact that Pat choosing to leave them hadn't happened or affected them?_

 _She waited a beat before she then looked up and over towards candor, she found him immediately where he was sat in the front row and she stared at him, she stared at him until he finally decided to look up and when their eyes met she gave him a look that made even his new faction members that were sitting beside him who had curiously followed his gaze duck their heads._

 _Eventually he ducked his own head and then focused on the ceremony once more, she inhaled a deep breath then turned her head back to the front to look at Johanna just as her lips started to say the name of the next person that would be choosing._

oOo

"Phoenix Holdsworth." Andrew Prior called out from where he stood on the stage and she was out of her daydream and brought back to the present instantly.

It was her turn already? How did that happen?

Her heart started hammering inside her chest and her stomach was now hurting, she could feel eyes on her from the other members of her faction which made her mouth go dry, her father gently gave her hand that he was holding a squeeze and she swallowed, she then looked at him and inhaled a deep breath before she slowly rose from her seat.

Both her parents stood with her and she turned to look at her mother who had risen with a hand on her back, Phoenix smiled at her when she saw a hint of tears in her eyes, her mother returned the smile and gave her back a soft a rub with the hand that was placed there before she dropped it and clasped it in her other one infront of her.

Her father who was still holding her hand led her out of the isle they were sat in and when they reached the end of it he whispered to her, "We love you."

She stared at him briefly with tears now in her own eyes and gave him a nod before she whispered back, "Bye daddy."

He didn't look shocked by what she had said, he just smiled in a way that told her he'd known all along that she wouldn't be staying in abnegation where she'd never fitted in, not in the way she was supposed to anyway.

She sadly let go of his hand then made her way down the stairs towards the stage, praying the whole way that she wouldn't trip as she did because her legs were suddenly very wobbly.

She inhaled and exhaled another deep breath as she approached the bowls that symbolized the different factions, Andrew Prior who she still didn't really recognise from abnegation offered her a brief smile and she barely managed to return it.

She picked up the knife that was laying on the table beside the bowls with a shaky hand, she then stepped up and placed the tip of the knife against the palm of her hand and then she slowly moved it across her skin until she felt a brief sharp pain followed by blood appearing, she placed the knife back on the table and clenched her fist to make the blood appear and move down her palm quicker.

Her heart started to race once more as she moved her hand in the direction of the bowl of the faction she would be choosing, she looked at the grey stones of abnegation where she was born and raised...where her parents were, she then looked at the glass of candor...the faction where her brother had transferred to.

She forced thoughts of both those factions aside and focused on her new one, she whispered the words faction before blood to herself then moved her hand above the hot coals of dauntless and squeezed, her blood dropped onto the coals with a sizzle.

"Dauntless." Andrew called out and the room erupted in cheers and applause, mostly all from the dauntless faction, her faction now.

She picked up one of the band aids that was lying on the table beside the knife and turned to head for dauntless, she looked up at her parents in abnegation briefly as she walked, her mother had her head bowed crying but her father just gave her a nod followed by a weak smile.

She looked away from them both and towards her new faction that she'd now reached, someone stood up and shook her hand before wandering off up the stairs to find a seat at the back.

She took the now free seat and was greeted warmly with more handshakes and pats on the back, someone even high fived her.

The loud applause that was now only coming from dauntless slowly began to die down once Andrew asked for quiet.

"Welcome to dauntless." a man with a purple beard said with a grin beside her once Andrew had called out another name.

"Thanks." she replied with a smile as she placed the band aid on the cut on her palm and then she let out a sigh of relief that her choosing was now over.

She received a few more whispered welcomes and pats on the shoulder as the next person was choosing their faction.

oOo

The rest of the choosing ceremony flew by after Phoenix had chosen and it was hard to keep focused throughout that time as from where she was sat she had a clear view of her parents in abnegation and she couldn't help stealing glances at them where they sat, her mother had moved into the seat she had been sitting in at the beginning of the ceremony and was holding hands with her father.

She could feel their gaze on her from time to time and she tried her best to ignore it because...faction before blood.

Before she knew it the ceremony had come to an end and people around her were standing up, she quickly stood up from where she was sat and began to follow them along with the other transfers.

"Time to go home." a woman said from behind her and she looked over her shoulder to find the woman grinning at another dauntless member before they both headed off infront of her.

Phoenix then looked around her and noticed that everyone was doing this, no one was waiting patiently in a single file line to leave like she was used to doing, they were all just wandering out of the hall freely.

"Let's go." called someone up ahead and everyone started moving quickly towards the exit, Phoenix had to pick up the pace to keep up and not hold others behind her up and before she walked through the exit she took one last look at her parents who were still sat in their seats in abnegation...watching her go.

She ducked her head and whispered to herself 'goodbye' as she walked through the doors leading outside.

oOo

"Nice outfit." A girl said to Phoenix after she had practically dived into the moving train and landed hard on her knees, some of the other transfers and the dauntless members had laughed at her and made comments about how she was last on and that they were surprised she'd made it at all.

With a slightly red face she pushed herself up to standing position and looked down, the skirt of her dress had gotten caught on a broken part of the pillar of the train track that she had been climbing and ripped all the way up her leg.

She opened her mouth in shock, it hadn't been that bad when she had looked at it before, she grabbed at the ripped pieces and pulled them together in a desperate attempt to cover herself back up, she'd never publicly exposed this much skin to others before and especially not to strangers.

The girl that had spoken let out a laugh and Phoenix looked at her and noted she was dressed in amity clothing.

"I'm serious, it's a nice look." the girl said with a grin which then widened when Phoenix's cheeks heated up, "Aww you're blushing!"

"Is it really?" Phoenix asked sceptically, choosing to ignore the statement about her obvious embarrassment.

"Really." the amity girl replied with a nod.

"Then why are you laughing at me?" she asked with an annoyed frown.

"Because you look so funny trying to hold it all together, just let it go sweetie, it ain't fixable...embrace it." the girl said with an amused smile.

"Embrace it? It's all the way up to...my crotch." Phoenix said, whispering the last words with suddenly very pink cheeks.

"That's the best part." the girl said enthusiastically and Phoenix's mouth popped open, "Shame about the granny panties though, you could have worn something a little smaller."

Phoenix gaped at her words and the girl threw her head back and laughed freely, some people in the train car looked over at them and desperate that no one else's attention be drawn to the conversation Phoenix hushed her with an angry whisper, "Quit laughing at me."

"Your face!" the girl said once her laughter died down some, "I love it, it's so expressive!"

Phoenix looked away briefly then back at the girl, she then asked as she began to shrug out of her jacket, "Are you always this."

She trailed off, unsure of how to finish what she was asking, however a dauntless man with short dark hair and tattoo's up and down his right arm over at the other side of the car finished for her, "Hyper."

"Oh yes! However I do prefer the term...excessively enthusiastic." the amity girl said with a smile towards the man and he rolled his eyes at her.

"You're way too amity." he replied with extra emphasis on the word 'way' and the people he was stood with laughed, Phoenix looked from him to the amity girl as she tied her jacket tightly around her waist.

"Proud to be." the amity girl said immediately and the man looked over at her, regarding her curiously.

"Then why leave? Why have you joined dauntless?" he asked as he turned his body in her direction and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I like to fight." the girl replied, the lively and warm tone was gone from her voice and replaced with a low, threatening one, a smirk also replaced the sweet smile.

The man's eyebrows rose considerably at her response with surprise clearly visible on his face, he then nodded his head and said in a low, husky voice, "Word."

Phoenix watched him openly look her up and down before he give her a wink, then he turned back to the people he was with and began speaking to them once more, she turned her head back to the amity girl who's cheeks had turned a bright shade of crimson.

With a smile she said in a quiet voice, "Now who's blushing?"

The amity girl stared up at her with an open mouth for a moment before she grinned and then she covered her face with her arm, "I guess I deserved that."

Phoenix shrugged with a smile and then the amity girl held her hand out to her and she took it and pulled.

"Whoa." the girl said as she was hoisted up onto her feet and Phoenix was suddenly taken aback at the girl's height, she wasn't a giant but she was a lot taller than what she had expected her to be, maybe 5'8 or 5'9 to her 5'3.

"Sorry." she said and the amity girl smiled.

"It was just a handshake...you're not in abnegation anymore." the girl said and held her hand out once again, Phoenix swallowed at her comment before she took her hand once more and this time they shook, "I'm Andromeda but don't ever call me that...it's Andie...you're stronger than you look."

"Phoenix...thanks." Phoenix replied and Andie grinned at her.

"What do people call you?" she asked and Phoenix looked at her confused.

"Phoenix." she replied and Andie made a face, "What? Is there something wrong with my name?"

"No, nothing, it's a great name...unusual, but hey, I like it...only, it's a bit of a mouthful." Andie replied.

"No it's not." Phoenix said a little defensively then she looked out the open train car door at the city disappearing behind them, she looked back at Andie and asked, "Is it?"

"Just a little...but that's because I'm used to everyone having some sort of nickname where I'm from." she said with a shrug.

"Your one should be motormouth." the man from before spoke once more and Andie looked over at him, this time with a glare on her face and he held his hands up in mock defence, "Only joking hippie."

She looked away from him and back to Phoenix, "I hope I didn't offend you or anything."

"No, of course not." Phoenix replied.

"It is very pretty." Andie said with a smile and moved towards the open car door, Phoenix hesitated before she followed her over to the edge, she made sure to hold on tightly to the side of the train as she did.

"Yours is too." she said and Andie made a noise of disgust.

"No, it's not." she said with a laugh.

Phoenix looked at her briefly then out at the city flying passed them in a blur before she replied with, "Your one is more of a mouthful than mine, the full version that is."

"Yeah." Andie agreed with another laugh and looked at her, "That's true."

"And...it IS pretty." Phoenix said then she smiled and leaned her head against the side of the train what she was holding onto.

"Thanks." Andie replied after a beat and Phoenix looked up at her to be met with a smile.

"Listen up transfers!" A loud voice called out, Andie and Phoenix stepped back from the edge of the train to see who was talking, it was a man two train cars down from where they were, he was tall and had an orange and purple mohawk hairstyle, "We're approaching the compound, get ready!"

After he'd spoken the dauntless in the train car with Phoenix, Andie and the other transfers began to move towards the two open doorways.

Phoenix ended up being bumped out of the way by some people in the process, she watched them carefully and noticed some of them poke their heads out of the opening then some of them stepped right back to the side opposite the doorway and then they broke out into a run which was then followed by a leap out of the train.

Phoenix gasped silently as more and more people copied the actions of those before them, Andie then asked the question they already knew the answer to, "We have to jump?"

"Where's that eager enthusiasm from before amity?" the man that had spoken to Andie before asked with a grin as he moved towards them both, "It's just a little hop."

Andie didn't have the chance to respond to him as he was already running then leaping off the train, she turned to Phoenix who had begun preparing herself for the jump.

"Move your asses." a dauntless boy said to them and the other transfers as he began running and a chill ran through Phoenix at what he shouted as he was in mid air, "Or be factionless!"

"Andie, let's go." Phoenix said quickly.

"It's a moving train." Andie said wide eyed.

"Don't think about it, take my hand." Phoenix said with her hand held out, Andie hesitated so Phoenix grabbed her hand anyway, "Now!"

She pulled Andie with her as she ran and thankfully the amity girl moved with her otherwise Phoenix would have let her hand go and kept running.

Both girls leapt from the train once their feet were on the edge of the open doorway and they soared across a huge gap.

It was a lot bigger than a 'little hop'.


	2. Chapter 2

***** DISCLAIMER ***  
**

 **I own NOTHING regarding the divergent series e.g. the books/the movies  
The only things I own are my own characters that I've created.**

* * *

Phoenix and Andie both let out a shriek as they landed on the hard ground of the rooftop, Phoenix almost somersaulted when she touched down but she managed to prevent it and instead landed roughly on her knees.

"Ow!" Andie groaned out from where she had landed on her bottom up ahead of Phoenix and then she laughed, "Good thing I had something soft to land on!"

She pushed herself up then put both hands on her behind and rubbed it hard, Phoenix couldn't help but laugh at her as she did, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm good, you?" Andie said with a grin and Phoenix pulled back her ripped skirt to observe her knees, one was good but the other was bleeding in two places with a little bit of redness and there was also purple bruising forming around it already.

"I'll live." she replied and pulled her skirt back into place before she stood up.

Phoenix wasn't sure but looking around she noticed that almost everyone had managed to jump from the train and they were now gathered in a group in the middle of the roof of the building, there were maybe a couple of faces that were missing but she pushed that thought to the back of her mind, there was no point looking back now, no matter how sorry she felt for those transfers that were now factionless.

As the girls looked around they noticed that there were some dauntless members waiting over the other side of the roof next to a small wall and one of those members was stood atop that wall looking out over everyone, he called out to them in a loud, deep voice, "Gather round."

Something about his tone of voice just screamed authority and nobody disobeyed his order, everyone moved swiftly to where he and the other members were.

As they approached the wall Phoenix managed to get a clearer view of the man that had spoken, he looked to be in his early to mid twenties and even though he was stood on the wall it was obvious that he was a tall man, it was also very obvious despite the padded jacket he wore that he was very muscular, his big broad shoulders were more prominent because of the 'V' body shape he owned.

Shaved at the sides and cropped short on the top of his head was dirty blonde hair, both his ears were pierced along with the spot above his right eyebrow.

He had matching tattoos on either side of his neck just below his chiselled jaws and they ran down his throat, stopping just above his collar bones.

Phoenix was surprised at herself for the thorough observation she gave the man and she felt a blush creeping it's way up her neck at that thought.

Throughout her life in abnegation she'd always observed other people, dauntless members in particular...they weren't exactly hard to miss, especially with their tattoos, crazy hair styles and wild personalities, she could never take her eyes off them whenever she saw them...women or men, she found them to be fascinating.

Her observation of this man however was different, admiration was what she had for the previous dauntless members but for this man, it was a bit different, he wasn't just someone that she envied because of the faction he was part of as she herself was now apart of that very faction, he was also nice to look at and she'd never thought that way about anyone before.

His gaze seamed to find each individual face of the transfers as he looked out over the group infront of him and when his eyes landed on her she swallowed uncomfortably.

His gaze lingered on her undoubtedly the longest and she wasn't the only one that noticed, others followed his stare.

When she looked back at him she found him looking her up and down with what could only be described as distaste and she suddenly felt very stupid for the thoughts she'd just had.

"My name's Eric." he said and then he looked away from her so he was addressing everyone, "I'm one of your leaders."

He began to move back and forth along the wall slowly whilst looking over the group once more, he stopped a beat later and glanced over his shoulder and down.

"This is the entrance to dauntless." he said and then looked at them all again, murmuring began around Phoenix at his words and she looked up at Andie.

"We have to jump off the roof?" the amity girl whispered and Phoenix looked back over at Eric.

"Who's first?" he said to all of them a beat later and looked around them briefly before he spoke again, "Transfers...this is an opportunity for you in particular to prove yourselves."

Nobody said a word, there was only silence and it kept growing and growing, it was probably only a minute that passed by if any at all but it felt like a lifetime.

"I don't have all day." Eric announced in a bored and impatient tone.

Eventually after more moments of nobody doing anything passed by a dauntless boy sighed loudly then shoved his way forward through the crowd, "I'll do it...man, what a bunch of pussies."

Phoenix frowned at the crass word whereas other dauntless sniggered in response, that word wasn't one that she was used to hearing but she knew what it meant.

Eric hopped down from the wall as the boy approached him and stepped back, the boy then jumped up onto the wall, looked down briefly then turned around to look at the group that were gathered infront him, he grinned at them and said, "See ya!"

He let out a loud yell then threw himself backwards in a flip and disappeared from the ledge, some people including Phoenix gasped and ran to the wall to look over, there was a giant hole of darkness several stories below the building they were all stood on.

The boy was nowhere to be seen but Phoenix heard what she thought was laughing followed by cheering coming from inside the hole.

"I guess you're our next jumper." a deep voice said low in her ear and her body jolted in surprise, she didn't have to look at the person to know who the voice belonged to, there was really no doubt.

A beat passed before she turned her head slightly and saw that his face was very close to hers, she knew that already though because she'd felt his warm breath on her skin when he'd spoken.

His face looked expressionless as he stared at her and she swallowed under the intensity of his gaze, she then leaned her head back and looked over her shoulder at the group she'd been standing with moments ago, they had all stepped back whilst she was still looking over the edge, thus, volunteering her to go next.

She looked at Andie briefly then back at Eric once more and he looked as if he was looking right through her, she looked down briefly then slowly took a hold of the wall infront of her.

Her heart was now thumping in her chest at the anticipation of what was waiting for her inside that hole and her stomach was doing somersaults, the fact that there hadn't been screams of pain heard from the boy was a very small comfort for her but she still wasn't looking forward to jumping off a roof.

She hoisted herself up onto the ledge so she had her good knee on it and the other leg dangled below her, she took maybe a second to take a breath then she pulled her other leg gently up so she was crouched on the wall.

A wolf whistle suddenly pierced through the air and she looked back at the group, her eyes immediately found a candor boy with his fingers in his mouth, "Not bad for a stiff."

Phoenix noticed his gaze was lowered and as a bunch of people laughed at his words she looked down, her full leg was now exposed because of the rip in her skirt, she quickly pushed herself up to standing and turned her back on all of them, she wobbled a little as she stood but she managed to regain her balance almost immediately.

"Maybe abnegation isn't so bad after all." she heard the same candor boy say which received more sniggers.

"Quiet." Eric's voice suddenly said over the laughter which stopped instantly.

Phoenix tuned out what the boy had said and looked down, the hole looked so much further away standing above it, she swallowed as she lifted her head and then she closed her eyes briefly, she began to take deep breaths before she shuffled forward ever so slightly.

"Today stiff." the same boy that had spoken before called out to her, his tone was no longer teasing but impatient and unpleasant.

She took another tiny step forward and looked down into the hole once more whilst mentally coaxing herself to just do it, to just get it over with, she had managed it from the train...why should now be any different.

It shouldn't be...it wasn't.

She bobbed her head in a nod of encouragement to herself, inhaled a deep breath and prepared to hop off.

"Screw this man, I'll get her moving." she heard the voice of the candor boy say from behind her followed by a scuffle then there was a few shocked gasps just before something hard hit her in the back of the knee.

Whatever it was that hit her was enough to throw her off balance and she found her body was falling sideways then forward which caused one of her legs to get caught behind her and scrape down the edge of the wall, a scream started in her throat then died away immediately as she plummeted fast through the air.

Her body twisted as she was falling and she found herself plunging down fast and head first.

oOo

Her head and left shoulder touched down first on something soft and springy and it immediately threw her back up into the air and her body flipped over so she was now heading face first into what she realised was a huge net.

Her body bounced once more then came to a halt so she was lying star fished, she was met by loud cheers which made her lift her head up, there were other dauntless members stood a few feet away from the net on the other side of some train tracks and amongst them was the first boy that had jumped and he looked surprised to see her.

"The stiff? Didn't expect that." he called out with a grin then he saluted her and she found herself smiling back at him because...she had entered dauntless, she was now in her new home, she hadn't jumped down herself despite being about to but nevertheless she was here.

She took a couple of deep breaths to slow down her heart rate from the fall before she began to push her body up, the material of the net scraped against her cut knee as she did which caused her to wince slightly.

"What's your name?" a tall dark haired man asked her as he approached the net from the crowd of dauntless that were watching her, he didn't give her time to respond to the question though as he grabbed the edge of the net and yanked it down so she slid towards him, she gasped when she came face to face with him...he wasn't a bad looking man, he was quite handsome, despite the fact that he looked angry.

"Well?" he pressed as he grabbed her under the arms and pulled her out of the net to set her down roughly on her feet infront of him.

She looked up at him then briefly over at the dauntless that were watching her before she looked back at him, she then opened her mouth to say her name but stopped, Andie's conversation about her name earlier had stopped her from what she was about to say.

Abnegation was her old faction, Phoenix was who she was, who she still was but now...she was no longer abnegation, she was dauntless.

She needed a new name.

"I'm Nix." she said to the man and he stared at her for a moment before he called out her name to everyone and they all cheered for her, she smiled at the members of dauntless then looked back at the man but he wasn't looking at her, she followed his gaze and found he was looking at her legs or rather...her exposed leg, which was now scraped from her calf all the way up to her mid thigh.

"You hurt?" he asked her whilst looking at her leg still, he then looked back up at her face and raised his brows questioningly, she shook her head in response, "Go and stand beside Mark."

She didn't hesitate, she nodded and moved over towards the dauntless boy who she assumed was Mark just as she heard the excited yells of someone else echoing through the air as they jumped from the roof followed by the squealing of the nets springs as they landed safely.

"Yo, Nix!" Mark said as she approached and he held his fist out towards her, "Bump it girl."

She raised a brow at him then looked at his hand, a beat passed by before she made a fist herself and indeed did bump his.

Mark beamed at her then pulled her in for a tight hug which took her completely by surprise and she stumbled slightly.

"Put the girl down Benson." one of the dauntless members called out from across the room and some of the others laughed.

"Hey I'm just showing some love to a fellow initiate." Mark called back to the person as he slung his arm over her shoulder, "She's got bigger balls than the rest of them up there."

Some of the dauntless members were amused by what he had said and others were cheering for the person that had just jumped from the roof.

Nix looked over at the net and smiled, the person that had jumped was another dauntless born, Mark's voice caught her attention though as it was lower and directed at her, "Not literally I hope."

She saw him drag his eyes up and down her body slowly and he openly let them linger on the area between her legs.

She stared at him in disbelief after he winked at her then she quickly ducked out from underneath his arm, he threw his head back and laughed at her reaction.

"Once a stiff always a stiff right?" he said and then he slapped her hard on the behind.

Her mouth fell open in a gasp at his actions as he ran over to the guy that was hopping out of the net, they high fived one another whilst laughing then made their way back across to where she was stood.

They paid her no mind when they stood beside her but that didn't stop her from moving a few steps away from them, she glared at Mark and then as subtly as she could gave her bottom a rub as it stung from where he hit her.

After a moment had passed she crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at the hole in the roof to wait for Andie to jump down.

oOo

Almost ten minutes passed and the ninth jumper landed in the net, it was Andie, Nix smiled at her and laughed when she jumped out of the net without help then started jumping around whooping.

Almost everyone laughed at her reaction then cheered loudly when she was asked her name which she responded to by shouting in a very loud and excited voice, 'I'm Andie!'.

When she looked around the crowd briefly her eyes eventually landed on Nix where she stood near the back, she waved at her with a beaming smile then began to jog towards her, Mark however stepped infront of her and cheered with his arms open.

Andie responded to this by cheering back and practically diving into his arms, he was clearly surprised at this but he wrapped his arms tightly around her anyway and began jumping up and down.

Nix covered her mouth with one of her hands to stop her laugher escaping at the sight before her, the girl was SO amity.

"Hey! Watch those hands!" Andie said loudly to Mark who had just openly without shame copped a large feel of her behind, it was clear this guy had a thing for women's bottoms.

Mark laughed and set her down on her feet, "Welcome to dauntless hippie."

"Thanks." Andie said with a wink and walked around Mark then she immediately broke into a run towards Nix and engulfed her in a hug.

"Whoa." Nix said in surprise then she laughed, she wasn't used to showing this much affection, of course she hugged her family every now and then but it was never anything like this.

She found that she really liked it this way better and she then tightened her own arms around Andie and hugged her back.

"We're in dauntless! We made it!" Andie said excitedly in her ear and then they broke apart.

"I know, it feels good." Nix replied with a grin and she glanced over at the net just as another jumper had come down and it was the candor boy that had been saying things to her on the roof.

Andie followed her gaze and made a noise of displeasure, "It's him."

"What did he throw at me?" Nix asked as she watched him scrambling to get out of the net, she noticed also that his left cheek now was red and puffy looking, "And what happened to his face?"

"Other than the fact he was born with it?" Andie asked and Nix looked up at her with a brief smile before she looked back over at the boy.

"Yeah...besides that." she replied and after she had spoken the candor boy looked over at her and scowled, "What's his problem?"

"It was that scary guy...Eric." Andie said and Nix looked up at her.

"What was Eric?" she asked.

"His face...it was Eric." Andie replied with a shrug and a grin.

"He hit him?" Nix asked with furrowed brows and Andie nodded, "Why?"

Andie shrugged again, "Well after the rock that he threw hit you and knocked you over, Eric marched over to him and BAM!"

Nix's mouth opened slightly in surprise and Andie made a fist and hit her other hand with it, the candor boy walked away from the net to stand beside some dauntless members and turned his head in the girls direction and glared at Nix.

"Why would he do that? I mean, I was supposed to jump anyway." Nix said whilst looking at the candor boy, she then turned her body to face Andie.

"Something about it being dangerous and a lot of paperwork for dead initiates or something." Andie replied.

"Really...and jumping from a moving train onto a rooftop isn't dangerous?" Nix asked with a raised brow.

Andie shrugged and grinned, "That's some shiner though right?"

Nix looked back over at the candor boy who was no longer watching her with disgust but looking at the net as more people jumped down, his injury did look painful and she couldn't help the feeling of satisfaction that built inside her at that fact, serves him right for what he did to her.


	3. Chapter 3

***** DISCLAIMER ***  
**

 **I own NOTHING regarding the divergent series e.g. the books/the movies  
The only things I own are my own characters that I've created.**

* * *

A few more minutes passed by before the final jumpers were landing in the net and just after that the dauntless members were beginning to come down, Eric was first of those members, Nix watched him as he effortlessly removed himself from the net and looked around everyone.

"Dauntless born follow Theresa, transfers follow Adam." he called out to everyone as the rest of the dauntless members started jumping from the roof.

The dauntless born that had been choosing that day immediately followed after a woman with green hair as she walked towards a tunnel that led deeper into the building and the transfers started to follow the man that had helped Nix and some of the others from the net in the same direction as the dauntless born, the other dauntless members that had been watching everyone jump into the net seamed to gradually disappear when Eric appeared, the rest of the dauntless members that were jumping into the net seamed to land, hop out and leave also.

The transfer group was a lot smaller than the dauntless born, in total there were now ten of them when originally there had been thirteen...that thought scared her because it was more of a reality that if she had hesitated for a second too long on that train it could have ruined the rest of her life, she could have ended up factionless just like those three missing transfers.

The dauntless born began with eighteen members and still had eighteen members, Nix and Andie began to follow their group until Eric walked towards them.

"Stop." he said and they had both halted instantly.

He stopped infront of Nix so they were practically toe to toe and she had to tilt her head back to look up at him, he then pointed at Andie.

"You, disappear." he said without looking at her and she hesitated before looking at Nix who glanced briefly back at her, Eric then firmly said, "Now."

Nix looked back at him and saw he hadn't taken his eyes off her as he'd spoken, Andie didn't hesitate a second time, she moved around him and followed the rest of the transfers, looking over her shoulder briefly at Nix as she did before she turned and jogged to catch up with them.

Nix moved her eyes from Andie's retreating form to Eric who was staring at her intently, it was now just the two of them left as everyone else had gone and Nix was suddenly very aware of the thoughts she'd had when she first saw this man up on the roof.

Despite him having a rather frightening demeanour she couldn't deny that he was also very nice to look at, especially being as close to him as she was in that moment.

"You're hurt." he eventually said after a long moment of silence and his tone, surprisingly, seamed to be a bit softer than it had been before.

She shook her head and replied, "No."

"It wasn't a question." he said immediately and she opened her mouth to reply but nothing came out, she then closed it and opened it again, Eric rolled his eyes at her and dropped down so he was kneeling infront of her.

"What are you doing?!" she almost screeched at him as he placed a hand at the top of her bare thigh and the other around the top of her knee.

She shook him off and stepped back then she pulled the ripped pieces of her skirt together to cover herself up, her skin was burning from his touch...especially her cheeks.

"Relax, don't be such a prude." he said with an impatient sigh and she gaped at him, "Come here...let me see."

A long moment passed with her just staring at him before she took a hesitant step forward back to where she had been stood previously and she watched him watch her as she did this.

His hand reached up and tapped her fist that was curled around the rip of her skirt, she didn't let it go however as she was too embarrassed.

He sighed and wrapped his hand around her wrist, "Let go or I'll make you."

She furrowed her brows at his statement, 'before he would make her'?

As she was thinking it his hand around her wrist squeezed hard, to the point where it made her fingers release the hold of the fabric that she had.

He then wasted no time in gripping onto her leg with both hands again as she rubbed her wrist with hot cheeks, hot that he had his hands on her and also hot because she was angry that he had hurt her to do so.

"You'll be fine." he stated after thoroughly inspecting the damage the fall from the wall had caused her, "When you've got a chance, go get it cleaned at the infirmary."

He let go of her leg and slowly rose up so he was once again standing infront of her, she found herself staring at his chest for a moment before she swallowed and looked up at him.

His face was expressionless as he stared at her and it made her uncomfortable, she looked away briefly then up at his face once more, "Do I go now? I mean...can I?"

He didn't reply in any way to her for what felt like the longest time then he silently stepped to the side to let her pass him and she did so as quickly as possible but stumbled over her feet in the process, the ground was then suddenly very quickly coming towards her face, however...it never did.

She found herself flush against Eric's solid chest with his arms wrapped tightly around her, he had grabbed onto her waist and yanked her back up to standing position before she could fall.

Her breath came out in quick bursts and her heart raced inside her chest, "Clumsy."

At the sound of his voice she looked up and saw what she thought was a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth, she looked down briefly then back up and whispered, "Thank you."

She began to move in his arms and he released her, "Watch where you put your feet next time."

She nodded as she stepped back from him and then she walked off quickly in the direction the other transfers had gone, she took deep breaths as she went and sighed in relief that she was now away from him and able to think clearly, something about being in such close proximity with him had her head spinning.

She entered the dark tunnel and rushed through till she came to a wall that led to corridors both left and right, she looked down both and didn't see anyone.

"Which way did they go?" she asked herself as she veered off to the right, it could have been either way but she made a guess and went for it.

"You're going the wrong way initiate." She heard Eric's deep voice say from behind her and she froze, she then turned around and saw him standing a few feet away from her with his arms folded across his chest, she hadn't even heard him approach which was impressive for someone of his size and build.

"This way?" she asked hesitantly and pointed to the left.

"Well there's only two ways to go and you're going the wrong way." he replied and started to slowly walk towards her.

She looked away from him when she felt her cheeks heat up, she wasn't stupid, she knew that...he just made her nervous and it caused her to say out loud what she was thinking.

He sighed and said as he walked past her, "Follow me."

She did as she was told and walked behind him, making sure to keep a good distance back from him but not enough to fall behind.

Eventually as they walked through the corridor she heard distant music and noise from a crowd, she also heard what she thought might have been Adam's voice up ahead and she caught up to Eric's side for a better look of what was ahead, she felt his eyes on her after she did this and she looked up.

"Name." he suddenly said as he looked away from her.

"What?" she found herself saying and he looked at her with a bored expression.

"What's your name?" he asked as he looked ahead once more and she waited a beat before replying.

"Nix." she said and he made a noise which caused her to look up at him with a frown.

"Nix." he repeated.

"What about it?" she asked in a defensive tone which surprised herself, he looked down at her beside him and even though he never smiled she knew he was amused.

"What was your old name?" he asked and she stared at him with narrowed eyes before replying.

"Phoenix." she said and she saw his eyebrows rise in surprise.

"That's not very...you." he replied and glanced at her.

"Me?" she asked instantly, feeling very annoyed all of a sudden.

"Abnegation." he clarified after looking her up and down slowly in a displeased way and then he rolled his eyes as if it needed no further explanation.

"That could be because my father was a dauntless transfer." she replied and a noise of scepticism left his mouth, her eyes shot to him, "What?"

"I don't believe ANYONE would transfer to abnegation...especially from dauntless." he replied.

She stopped walking as an exclamation of annoyance left her lips, he heard this and stopped a few steps ahead of her then turned around, a frown formed on his own face when he made eye contact with her and then he all but marched towards her until he was stood directly infront of her.

"What?" he demanded in a tone that dared her to talk back to him and as intimidated as she felt in that moment she made sure to never let it show, she crossed her arms tightly over her chest and stared up at him.

"You don't favour abnegation?" she asked after a beat had passed.

"What IS there to favour?" he replied in a low menacing voice and she swallowed at his words and the tone of them.

"You must be from erudite." she said under her breath after clearing her throat and that was obviously the WRONG thing to say to him...if looks could kill she'd be breathing her last that very moment.

"What are the words?" he asked after a long and uncomfortable moment of silence between them, only his lips seamed to move as he asked this question which proved he was mad and she feared that she'd made a major error in what she said.

She was about to speak when he repeated his question, only this time it was more of a demand and it echoed through the tunnel, she closed her eyes briefly after jumping at his sudden outburst.

"The words." she began to say.

"The words of the faction system, what are they?!" he cut her off and stepped closer to her so he was literally looming over her.

She dropped her arms and held her hands nervously infront of her then swallowed, her heartbeat was suddenly beating very fast and her throat had gone dry but she had to find the words, she knew she had to.

"Faction before blood." she managed to say but it came out in a whisper.

"Can't hear you...speak up." he imitated her whisper and leaned his head down to her level, she suddenly felt very vulnerable where she stood, more vulnerable than when he was towering over her.

"Faction before blood." she repeated in a louder voice but it came out wobbly and she looked down.

"Faction before blood." he said as he straightened himself up to his full height, "The words we live by...I am dauntless...the second I chose dauntless anything that I was before that...was gone...it's in the past, everything that was is cut off, it never existed."

Nix looked up to find him staring down at her and she wished she'd never looked at him at all.

"This allegiance that you have for your faction of birth...no longer exists, you no longer belong there." he continued on to say and then he was silent.

"Allegiance." she whispered and he raised his brows at her, she cleared her throat then spoke again, "What did I say to make you think that I'm loyal to abnegation?"

"You're speaking about it." he replied instantly and she stared at him.

"I transferred here and it wasn't even three hours ago." she said whilst huffing out a humourless laugh of disbelief.

"What don't you understand?" he demanded with a frown and she stared at him confused, "Faction before blood...you chose dauntless over your own faction and that means you're no longer part of that faction...dauntless is where your allegiance lies now."

He grabbed her wrist after he spoke and she gasped as he pulled it up so it was between them, it was the hand that she'd cut in the choosing ceremony, there was a small and barely visible pink mark on the band aid from where the blood had stained through it.

"The second your blood touched those burning coals...everything you were no longer existed." he finished off what he was saying.

She looked from her cut hand to him, she could feel tears forming in her eyes and she swallowed then inhaled in hopes it would make them go away.

He let go of her wrist and began speaking again, "It doesn't matter if it was a week ago or a day or even...an hour ago...you chose dauntless, abnegation is nothing to you anymore...do yourself and everyone else a favour and STOP talking about it...stop even thinking about it."

She was so bewildered at what he was saying because really, she had barely spoken about it at all...she wasn't even sure why what she did say could be so bad.

Was this how it would be from now on, not being able to breathe a word about her former faction where she was born and raised and where her family still were ever again?

"Nice of you to finally join us." A voice from somewhere behind Eric said, Nix glanced past him to find Adam stood at the end of the tunnel and he had a curious expression on his face, no doubt regarding how close they were stood or how tense the atmosphere seamed to suddenly be between them, he might have even heard some of what was said...Eric was definitely speaking loud enough.

"The rest of the transfers are up this way, get moving." he continued and she wasted no time in moving quickly past Eric but as she did she bumped his arm with her shoulder by mistake.

His hand then shot out and wrapped around her upper arm tightly which stopped her from moving any further, she gasped at the sudden movement and looked up at him, his face was extremely close to hers now and he was glaring, "You watch yourself initiate...and keep in mind what I said."

His voice was more menacing than before and it caused a small noise of fear to involuntary leave her lips, a noise which he noticed and for the first time she saw a smile appear on his face, she hated to admit how beautiful she found it to be and she was very surprised to think it also because he was only smiling due to her discomfort.

He let go of her arm and shoved her away from him roughly causing her to stumble slightly and when she looked back he was already heading back down the way they had come.

"Move." Adam's voice called out to her and she turned around to look at him, she found herself almost looking back over her shoulder once more but she didn't, instead she jogged towards Adam as he began walking off ahead of her.

"You don't want to get on the wrong side of Eric Stiff." he said a few moments later, she looked at him just as he looked over his shoulder at her briefly before saying, "Other's have made that mistake before."


	4. Chapter 4

***** DISCLAIMER ***  
**

 **I own NOTHING regarding the divergent series e.g. the books/the movies  
The only things I own are my own characters that I've created.**

* * *

"Are you kidding?" someone asked in disbelief.

Andie snorted out a laugh and made a comment to Nix, something about amity and that sharing wouldn't be that bad, but she was too busy looking around the room that was filled with single beds side by side to respond to her, the room itself was attached to another that turned out to be an open plan bathroom with communal showering and toilets.

"Get changed." Adam had said as he left the room and each of the transfers looked around what would be their new home for the duration of initiation, some had laughed...mainly the boys.

Nix on the other hand was having a hard time believing it, sharing a place to sleep was one thing, she herself had never done it, ever, with the exception of same gendered siblings it was frowned upon for anyone other than married couples in abnegation to share sleeping quarters, but this wasn't abnegation, it was dauntless, herself and the other transfers were in dauntless for the same reason...they had all chosen to leave their former factions and they way in which those factions do things behind, they were all hoping to make it, sharing a place to sleep, it was doable...it wasn't a completely terrible idea.

Using the bathroom together though, BOTH genders using the bathroom together...she didn't want to believe it, it was too bizarre.

Such an idea was unheard of where she was from and as she stood staring at the numerous showers side by side in a large circle it became clear if it hadn't already that she most definitely wasn't there anymore, her mother would have a heart attack at the mere thought of her participating in such an act.

Eric's words about abnegation to her from before suddenly flashed through her mind, 'stop talking about it, don't think about it'.

"Come on lets choose a bed." Andie said as she gave Nix a nudge with her elbow and she shoved the thoughts of her former faction and the large, scary leader of her new one to the back of her mind.

Both the girls then wandered across to two beds that were near the back of the room and a little away from the other transfers, there was a lot to choose from...more than twenty at a rough count, obviously dauntless had anticipated a lot more transfers.

There had been more though Nix thought...they just never made it onto the rooftop of the dauntless entrance.

Before she could dwell on that thought too long a squeak sounded as Andie lay down on her bed, she made a face at this and Nix raised her brows questioningly at the reaction.

Andie replied, "It's not terrible I guess...but it could be better."

Nix tried out her bed and found it to be very comfortable, by comparison to what she was used to anyway, abnegation sleep on thin mattresses, extremely thin mattresses.

Knowing that there are others out there living factionless with nothing at all to sleep on...it was considered very UN-abnegation to ever protest against what they were lucky to have.

At the end of each bed was a small trunk that had a few different outfits for both men and women inside, there were a few sets of workout clothes, a couple of sleep clothes and what seamed to be casual everyday clothes, almost everything was black or dark grey with the exception of a jacket that had an orange collar and sleeves.

Once she had inspected her trunk Nix looked up to see that a few people had already started to undress, some were girls but it was mainly the boys, she quickly turned her back on the partially nude people only to be met by another, Andie was in only her underwear and she didn't seam at all fazed by that fact.

"I think all these clothes are one sized Phoenix, they will drown you." Andie said to her in a sympathetic way as she started to step into a pair of tight black cargo trousers.

Nix looked up at Andie and gave a very brief smile before she picked up some items of clothing from inside the trunk, she sat on the edge of her bed facing Andie, as she took off her worn out grey plimsolls and white quarter ankle socks she said, "I changed my name."

Andie looked over at her with mild surprise before she smiled and replied, "Really?"

Nix nodded, "I did...it's now Nix."

Andie grinned, "I like it, it suits you."

"Thanks." Nix replied with a smile before she took the trousers that were identical to the ones Andie was now wearing from the pile beside her, she waited a beat before she started to step into them and when she pulled them up her legs underneath her ripped skirt she winced, the material had rubbed roughly against her injured side.

"Does that hurt?" Andie asked as she pulled some thick black crew socks onto her feet.

"Only a little." Nix said with a shrug as she removed her jacket from where it was tied around her waist, she then looked over her shoulder at the other transfers in the room to find the majority of them in the process of removing clothing while the rest were standing around in their new dauntless uniforms chatting.

She looked back at Andie who had just pulled a black vest top over her head and was now inspecting the boots she was to wear, Nix waited a second and then pulled her long sleeved t-shirt and sweater together up and over her head as quickly as she could, she then grabbed the same vest top as Andie's and pulled it on straight away.

That thick white and grey sweater would not be something she'd be sad to see go, she never liked it, it made her itch and it was heavy to wear.

She smoothed the top down her body only to find Andie had been right about the size, it was loose around her chest and hung low to reveal her plain grey bra slightly.

She quickly grabbed her new jacket, put it on and zipped it up to her chin to find it too was on the large side, she then removed her ripped skirt, grabbed the socks and put them on both her feet followed by the black leather combat boots, the boots she noticed as she was lacing them up were a little too big for her also, they would do for now but she'd need to see about finding a pair that fitted soon along with all the rest of her clothes, either that or she'd have to grow into them.

Once she was dressed she stood up and turned around, most of the transfers were now fully dressed and either talking with each other or trying out their beds, Nix turned around and looked at Andie who was looking in the mirror that she'd just realised was hung on the wall beside the girl's bed, she was turning around and looking at herself over her shoulder then she was looking at herself head on, she even adjusted the vest top around her chest area a few times and that was when Nix looked away.

"Wow, I'm hungry." Andie said with a laugh after her stomach growled loudly, Nix smiled when she looked her way, she then turned back to face the mirror and pulled her hair up into a high ponytail which she tied with a bright orange hair tie that was around her wrist, "Do we just head for food when we want?"

"I'm not sure, do you know where the dining hall is?" Nix asked as she reached a hand up and felt her own hair, her bun had pieces hanging loose and she quickly pulled it all out so it was hanging down her back, she then started to redo it but suddenly stopped, she wasn't in abnegation anymore...she didn't need to style it the way she always had done.

"Nope not a clue...oh sorry! I'm completely hogging the mirror, there you go." Andie said and stepped away from the mirror.

Nix let go of her hair and looked up at her then at the mirror, she made an attempt to take a step forward but stopped and looked at Andie with a helpless expression and began to stutter, "I...I don't...uh."

The former amity girl looked at her as if she'd grown another head, "It's only a mirror."

"I know...I've just, I...I've never really used one myself before, I only ever used the small one in our house every third month after I had my hair cut by my mother and it was only two minutes that we were allowed to look before the hatch was closed and locked." She replied with a shrug and Andie's eyes widened.

"Seriously? I thought that was just a rumour, you guys really never used them?" she asked.

Nix shook her head and looked down briefly, when she looked back at Andie the girl was smiling.

"Come on." she said and moved forward to take a hold of Nix's arm where she then pulled her towards the mirror, Nix tried to protest but Andie had placed her infront of the mirror already and was telling her to look, she had her eyes cast down at first but then she peaked up at her reflection and a beat passed before she fully looked up.

"Take a good long look at yourself, look how pretty you are." Andie said with a smile and moved her long hair from where it hung down her mid back to infront down either side of her face.

Nix looked away quickly after feeling that she had already been looking too long which was against the rules but then she remembered, she was in dauntless now and they had no such rules.

She looked back at her reflection and stared, her hair looked nice hanging down the way it was rather than pulled back in a tight bun at the base of her skull.

The clothes she wore, despite being on the large side, highlighted her slim frame rather than hide it like her clothing from abnegation had done, she liked the way the trousers fitted to her legs...they were a bit too long and had to be rolled up at the bottom but that was hardly noticeable due to the boots she wore, she barely recognised herself...the girl in the mirror was a stranger to her and she liked looking at her.

"I've never looked for this long before." she said her thoughts aloud.

"Now you can look when you want and for how long you want." Andie replied and then smiled at her, "You know what, why don't you stand there and let me tie your hair back...you can watch me do it."

Nix smiled at Andie's reflection and then nodded, Andie returned the smile then she began to slowly run her hands through her hair before she pulled it back from her face gently.

Nix watched the girl style her hair into a low loose twisted ponytail and she didn't feel ashamed for doing it, not like she would have done at home.

"If you all want food you better follow me now." called out a voice from across the room, it was Adam stood at the entrance to their room and he started to walk out immediately after he had spoken, calling out over his shoulder as he did, "And bring those rags you came in here wearing."

Andie finished Nix's ponytail with haste then rushed to get her jacket, the other transfers were already leaving the room and hurrying after Adam.

Nix took once last look in the mirror then she moved to grab her clothes from abnegation before she headed for the door with Andie.

O

After the group had left their dormitory Adam led them to a room with an incinerator and instructed everyone to throw their old faction clothes into it, each person lined up and did it immediately but when it came to Nix's turn she hesitated, she looked down at her clothes in a bundle in her hand and thoughts about her home and her family ran through her head, she had left them behind, chosen to leave.

This was her home now and her new family...Eric had warned her not to talk or think about any of it anymore, that was easier said than done, another beat passed before she threw her clothes into the flames then moved to where the other initiates were gathered to wait on the remainder of the group.

"Yeah stiff that's right, we just have all day to hang around and wait for you to destroy that ugly ass uniform." A girl that had been candor previously and who was stood beside the boy that had thrown the rock at Nix said, some transfers only smiled at what was said whilst others sniggered.

Adam moved towards Nix after the girl had spoken and she found herself automatically bowing her head at him in a greeting and she felt silly for doing it, Adam wasn't abnegation and neither was she, either he didn't notice what she had done or he didn't pay any mind to it because he only looked her up and down briefly before he said, "You look ridiculous."

She stared up at him then down at the clothes she was now wearing self consciously, she was dressed the same as everyone else was, why was it that she was the only one that looked ridiculous? Had he meant it because she had greeted him in the abnegation way?

As if reading her thoughts he let out a sigh and rolled his eyes at her.

"The clothes. I'll find you something that fits for tomorrow." he told her and she had no time to nod in response or thank him as he was already walking ahead and calling over his shoulder to everyone, "Dining hall is this way."

Everyone including the last people to throw their clothes in the fire hurried after him.

It was a short walk to the dining hall, less than a few minutes later they arrived in huge room that was filled with rows and rows of long tables and benches, the room itself was buzzing with chatter and laughter from the dauntless members that were already sat down and eating food together, lots of them turned and looked at the group of transfers where they stood awkwardly in the doorway.

"Dig in." Adam said and then he swiftly disappeared into the crowd of people that were surrounding the tables.

The transfers didn't waist any time, most of them started to move off in search of a spare seat to sit at, Andie and Nix were left still standing where they were until Andie turned to Nix and said, "Come on lets get something to eat."

Nix nodded her head and followed Andie through the spaces between the rows of tables, she couldn't believe how loud the room was, she was used to sitting with her family and eating in silence and where everyone was chatting amongst each other freely she had only ever been permitted to speak when her parents allowed her to do so.

The girls wandered around for a minute or two with not much luck until they came across a table that had mostly dauntless members sat at it, Adam and that woman from before, Theresa, were both sat beside each other eating some food.

Andie turned to Nix who was looking at the table, there were a couple spaces left across from Adam and Theresa, the amity girl shrugged and said, "There's not really anywhere else."

Nix nodded, "Yeah, lets sit."

"Hi guys." Andie said with a smile to the people at the table as they both swung their legs over the benches and sat down, no one acknowledged her, she only really received a look from one or two of them, a look that said 'why are you talking?'.

Her smile fell away as she turned her head to look at Nix and made a face before saying with raised brows, "Okay then."

A beat passed before a dauntless man on the other side of her passed them each a silver tray that had a few different sections marked in it, they thanked him and he swiftly went back to eating his food.

There were a few bowls and plates lined up along the centre of the table along with numerous clear jugs that were filled with water and different coloured liquid that Nix had heard was juice.

There was also an area near the entrance that had lots of food on a long table, a number of people had visited the table and left with their trays full of things to eat in the time since Nix and the other transfers had entered the room.

In the bowls and on the plates on the table Nix and Andie were now sat at were all different kinds of foods, so much to choose from and only a very small amount that Nix recognised, some of these things were dinner rolls, slices of white and brow bread, there were carrots and string beans, peas, salad, there was another type of salad too that had some white coloured chunks of something in it.

She looked around the table and saw everyone tucking into their food as if it was their last meal and she was sat there feeling awkward because she only knew what some of it was, she looked at Andie beside her and found her taking some of the rolls, a brown piece of flat meat and then another, she then reached her arm over the table to pick up some type of utensil and used it to grab what Nix knew were fries, she'd never had them before but she knew what they were.

"Aren't you going to eat anything?" Andie asked her once she set the fries on her tray and Nix was brought out of her daydream.

"Yes." she answered and leaned her hand forward to grab the handle of a spoon that was sticking out of a bowl of chopped potatoes, she took maybe a little less than a handful and put them on her tray.

Next she went for another thing she knew that was the peas and carrots, once they were on her tray she picked up her fork and knife beside her and prepared to eat.

"Is that all that you're having? There's hardly anything there." Andie said after observing her tray, Nix looked at the tray in confusion, there was a fair amount there she thought, she may even be considered greedy with what she had actually as there was a little more on the tray than what she'd normally have at home.

"Aren't you having any meat?" Andie then added and she looked down at the brown meat on the girl's tray and made a face, "You're not a vegetarian are you?"

Nix looked up at Andie's face that seamed to have dread written all over it and she shook her head, "The only meat I've eaten before is chicken and I don't see any of that here."

"Seriously?" Andie asked wide eyed, "So you've never had like a hamburger before?"

Nix looked at Andie's tray after the girl pointed at the piece of circular brown meat that was now on her dinner roll, "Is that what that is? I've never had one or seen one really...I've heard of them but no...I've never eaten one."

"You should try one, they're really good." Andie said and reached forward for another hamburger but Nix stopped her.

"Thank you but, maybe another night." she said and smiled, Andie looked at her briefly then shrugged before she took a bit out of her hamburger that was on her roll.

"I actually thought that most people from amity were vegetarian's." Nix said before she popped some carrots and potatoes into her mouth.

"A lot of them are." Andie said with a nod, "But not me, I'm a meat lover."

She had said the last part with emphasis and a wiggle of her eyebrows, Nix gave her a confused smile just as a dauntless man across from them coughed then made an amused sound, Nix looked over at him then at Andie who winked at him in response, the man grinned whilst shaking his head then he went back to eating his food.

Andie then looked at Nix with a smirk and she must have still had the same look on her face because the girl then smiled kindly at her and said, "Sorry Nix, I can be crude sometimes."

Nix's brows furrowed sightly before they rose in understanding, suddenly she realised what she'd meant by 'meat', she cleared her throat and said, "Oh."

A slightly sheepish smile formed on Andie's face before she shrugged and said, "Yeah."

A beat passed before Nix shrugged herself with a smile that said, 'don't worry about it', Andie grinned and gave her a gentle nudge with her elbow then went back to eating her food but before she did she suddenly said, "Wait...are you saying you've never eaten any meat at all except chicken?"

Nix nodded and said, "That's right."

"That's weird." she replied then she pointed at the table, "There's lots of it here."

"What chicken?" Nix asked.

"Yeah, look." Andie said and pointed at a dish with some golden brown coloured uneven shapes on a plate, "There's some, it's fried."

Nix looked at the food curiously, the chicken she'd always had was breast and it was always a circular shape that was sliced, the chicken Andie was pointing at looked strange.

"It tastes really Nice." Andie said and then she began to show her some other foods on the table that were also chicken, none of it looked like chicken at all, almost all of it was covered in some type of a brownish coloured skin.

She began to reach for some salad and Andie stopped her, "Wait, you should try the other one."

"The other one?" Nix asked and Andie nodded.

"The other one is chicken salad." the amity girl told her.

"Is that what those white bits are?" Nix asked and Andie nodded, she'd never seen chicken and salad together before, maybe that's why she'd not recognised the meat.

"You don't even know what chicken looks like?" A voice asked and both Nix and Andie looked up, it was Theresa who had asked and Adam beside her was looking at Nix curiously.

Nix looked at her briefly then said, "No, I mean yes I do...I've just, never seen so many different forms of it before."

"Abnegation." Theresa said with what sounded like a disgraceful sigh and then she took a long drink from her cup followed by Adam doing the same after shaking his head, Nix looked down at her tray feeling now more uncomfortable than ever.

"I guess I could give that a try." she said quietly to Andie beside her and the amity girl gave her a smile with a nod of encouragement.

Nix reached for the salad spoon, the one with the chicken and scooped some onto her tray, she then looked at Andie briefly before she tried some of it, it tasted a little different compared to what she was used to but she found that she liked it better this way, it must have had something through it to give it a flavour, she looked at Andie and said, "It's good."

"Knew you'd like it...tomorrow you're having something other than vegetables, okay?" Andie replied with a grin before she tucked back into her own food.

Nix smiled and took another bite of her salad before she placed her fork and knife down to reach for the water jug, "Would you like a drink of water?"

"Yes please." Andie said through a mouthful of food.

Nix took Andie's cup and began to fill it up, she placed it back down on the table then she picked up her own cup and began to fill that up too.

When the cup was almost full an elbow suddenly banged roughly into her arm and the water from her cup and what was pouring from the jug sloshed everywhere.

She immediately began to apologise as most of the people at the table except Andie cried out angry hey and watch it's.

"You really are clumsy aren't you stiff?" A low voice said in her ear a beat later which caused her to freeze, out of the corner of her eye Eric was sitting down in the empty space beside her and it really wasn't that big a space at all which he then proved by shuffling along slightly to fit his large body in and when he did the sides of their thighs and arms were flush against one another.

Her cheeks were now burning with embarrassment, she could feel it and she had no doubt in her mind that him bumping into her had been deliberate.

After a beat had passed she turned her head to look up at him and when she did she found that she was openly glaring at him because his sudden presence, what he'd just made her do and what he'd said to her earlier had irked her.

"Eric." Adam said with a nod in greeting, others around the table gradually chimed in to greet him.

He returned a nod before he harshly yanked the jug of water that Nix was still holding out of her hand, asking as he did, "You don't mind do you stiff?"

"By all means." she found herself saying immediately, sarcasm dripping from her voice and at this his head snapped in her direction.

He wasn't glaring at her but he might as well have been because the way he was staring down at her had her squirming in her seat until she looked back down at her tray.

She cleared her throat quietly and then picked up her fork and knife once more, just as she was about to pick up some of her vegetables to eat her body was suddenly jolted forward.

She stared ahead with her mouth slightly ajar, Eric had leaned his arm around behind her to grab some meat from a plate near Andie and in doing so shunted her forward, he then lifted the plate over her head and brought it back across the front of her so she had to lean back before it hit her in the nose.

"With you being the runt of the litter, that tray should really be stacked high with a lot more than just veg." he said to her as he then did the same thing again, only this time he practically leaned his torso right over where she was sitting to reach another bowl of food further down the table.

The runt of the litter?!

She sighed in annoyance at both the comment and because she had to lean right back in her seat to keep out of his way, unfortunately, he heard her.

"Sorry, am I in your way?" he asked her once he was infront of his tray once more, he asked her in a tone that told her to keep her mouth shut or say anything other than yes.

"Not at all." she replied after a beat and looked at her tray.

"What's the deal? Didn't they feed you where you come from?" he asked her in a mocking tone and some of the dauntless members at the table sniggered at his question.

Nix exhaled slowly and looked up at him, his eyes were narrowed as he waited for her to respond but their conversation from earlier played on her mind and she decided not to give him what she assumed he wanted, for her to come to abnegation's aid and defend his remark which in doing so would give him opportunity to reprimand her infront of everyone at the table, instead she said, "I like vegetables."

He made a noise which told her he wasn't convinced by what she said before he turned his attention to his food.

"Would you uh, like some salt Nix?" Andie asked.

"Why not?" Nix asked as she turned her head to give her a smile, she had meant it to be a grateful one but it must have came out looking forced because Andie passed her the salt with a slight grimace.

As she held the salt shaker in her hand Nix was suddenly unsure why she had agreed to it as it was another thing she'd never tasted before, she held the shaker in her hand briefly then looked at her food, she then tipped it up and sprinkled a tiny amount onto her potatoes.

She had barely tilted the shaker back upright before Eric's hand covered hers and took it from her so he could sprinkle some on his own food, she was left with her empty hand briefly extended in the air.

She glanced at Andie beside her who was now very busy eating her food, she then looked at some of the dauntless members that were watching Eric with amused grins on their faces, others seamed to look amongst one another curiously.

She inhaled a deep breath through her nose then began to eat her food, she decided in that moment to do it as quickly as possible because she didn't want to be sat beside him a moment longer, he could have probably chosen anywhere to sit and people would have no doubt parted ways without question for him but he decided to choose the table she was at and she wondered if it was a deliberate act in aid to cause her discomfort because it was clear by now if it hadn't been already that he strongly disliked her.

Within a couple of minutes that felt like hours she had managed to practically wolf down all of the food that was on her tray and then she began to drink some of the water from her cup.

"Whoa, what's the hurry?" Andie asked when she looked down at Nix's tray.

Nix looked at her with a 'really?' face and a look of understanding formed on her face, she nodded before saying, "Give me a couple of minutes and I'll be done."

Nix nodded her head and began to down what was left of her water until she felt Eric's arm nudge her own, it was gentler than before this time, she looked at him and he nodded his head down the table.

She turned her head and saw a dauntless man holding a plate with some type of dessert on it in her direction, confused she took the plate from the man and held it infront of her.

"What is it?" she asked no one in particular as she began to reach for it.

"It's mine." Eric said and picked up the dessert before she could so she was left holding an empty plate, some dauntless at the table laughed before they went back to eating their food.

Nix put the plate on the table lightly, feeling that her cheeks were heating up again as she did and it annoyed her, she looked at Eric's tray and saw the dessert in one of the spaces and then she looked up at him.

He must have felt her eyes on him because he swallowed what he was chewing and turned his head to look at her, "What?"

She stared up at him before saying with a shrug, "Nothing."

She turned her head away to see Andie had finished her food but she was reaching for a different kind of desert, chocolate cake.

"I'm sorry Nix, this looks too good not to have and apparently it's famous...you should have a piece." she said as she began to eat the cake, the expression she made was obvious proof that it was good.

Nix shook her head before letting out a sigh and then she asked, "Will I just meet you back at the dorm?"

"No, wait on me, I'll be quick I promise." Andie replied through a mouthful of cake and Nix reluctantly nodded her head at her before she looked down at her tray and when she did her brows furrowed.

In a section of her tray was half a piece of the desert Eric had taken, she looked over at his tray and saw the other half was sitting there, she looked up at him and found him chewing something once more whilst staring ahead.

She kept her eyes on him for a moment longer before she then looked down at her tray, confused, she wondered if it was a test of some sort, why would he half his desert and give it to her?

Did he really 'give' it to her or was this solely for him to humiliate her in some way further if she attempted to eat it?

She eventually picked up a spoon after a long moment of just staring then hesitantly stuck it into the desert, she slowly brought a piece up infront of her face and hesitated once more, would Eric grab the spoon from her?

Would he shove the small piece of cake or pie or whatever it was in her face?

As another moment passed by with no movement from the man beside her she decided to just get it over with and taste the desert and when she did there was a sudden explosion of deliciousness in her mouth when she placed the spoon in it, she let out a quiet moan, she had never tasted something this good before, ever.

She turned her head in Eric's direction a beat later and found him watching her intently, she pulled the spoon from her mouth and swallowed the piece of desert, his eyes stayed on her as she did this and they seamed to stare right into her own.

She cleared her throat before hesitantly asking him, "What is that?"

He continued staring at her for a long moment before he replied, "Cheesecake, white chocolate and raspberry."

He then went back to eating his food, she nodded her head and looked back at her tray then she smiled, there was still a small piece of the desert left and she quickly finished it off, making sure to savour the taste before she swallowed.

"You ready Nix?" Andie asked as she began to stand up with her empty tray, Nix nodded and began to stand up herself.

She looked at Eric as she picked her tray up and before she turned to walk away she put aside the annoyance she felt towards him and told him sincerely, "Thanks."

Both girls then walked off towards the kitchen counters near the entrance to the dining hall, they placed their empty trays in a tall four wheeled container thing that had narrow empty spaces for dirty dishes and then they headed for the doorway, Nix found herself glancing back at the table they had been sat at across the room before she walked out and she was surprised to find Eric's gaze on her as she did.

Why had he given her a piece of his dessert? Was he perhaps feeling remorseful, maybe he felt she'd been mocked enough by him?

Whatever it was she was grateful to receive a piece of the dessert as it was extremely delicious.


	5. Chapter 5

***** DISCLAIMER ***  
**

 **I own NOTHING regarding the divergent series e.g. the books/the movies  
The only things I own are my own characters that I've created.**

* * *

"Why would anyone want to jump into that thing?" Andie asked as she and Nix both looked over the railing into the chasm that Adam had told them about earlier, about not trying to be a daredevil and dive in because apparently it had been done before and instant death followed.

"I have no idea." Nix said softly as she looked down into the depths of the crashing water down below.

"It's wouldn't be brave, it would just be stupid!" Andie said before she looked up around the caves that surrounded them and then she mused, "This place really is huge."

The girls had looked for the infirmary once they had eaten, to have Nix's leg looked at, Andie insisted that they do it even though Nix said she was fine and that there was no need for them to go, it did turn out to be fine after all, the medic cleaned it for her and gave her a small tub of cream to apply to the worst bits before she went to bed.

They found themselves back in their dormitory for a bit after that and then when boredom got the better of them...more Andie than Nix really, the girl just wouldn't sit still, they had decided to have a wander around the compound and they visited the pit first.

The pit area was huge and it was very busy with a lot of dauntless members, they seamed to be gathered in groups, some large and some small and despite the size of the place it was still hard to think with all the noise going on.

When Andie and Nix had arrive they noticed some members had been fighting each other whilst others were gathered around them watching and cheering them on, it wasn't until both members had begun to laugh once their fight was over that the girls realised that it had only been semi-serious and for entertainment purposes.

There was music that seamed to be heard throughout the compound, some was just an echo, some was very loud in places and some could even be heard far away in the distance like it was right now where the girls were.

There always seamed to be some type of activity happening somewhere and if you didn't see any members they could definitely be heard whether they were far away or nearby.

"What are you two doing here?" a voice asked loudly followed by footsteps heading towards the girls, they both turned around to find a dauntless man infront of them, he looked to be in his early twenties and had short brown hair, when neither of the girls replied to him right away he asked, "Well?"

"We were just having a wander...getting to know the place." Andie replied and then smiled but the man didn't smile back, he scowled at them both.

"Don't." he simply said in response, "Get back to your dormitory initiates."

"Why?" Nix blurted out loud without thinking as the man turned to walk away and he stopped then slowly turned back around to face them.

"Because I said so." he snapped back at her a beat later and she opened her mouth to reply but stopped when he took a step towards her, "Got something to say?"

"No." she said quickly and a beat passed by before she continued, "It's just...this is our free time."

"And?" he asked instantly and she glanced briefly at Andie who was stood with a worried expression on her face.

"Well...why? Why do we have to go back to our dormitory? It's still early yet." she replied then folded her arms across her chest, the man watched her do this and it seamed to annoy him, as if he'd taken it as some form of defiance from her when really she'd only done it because his hard glare was starting to make her feel uncomfortable.

He began to walk towards her some more until he was stood about a foot away from her then he stopped, "You had better learn fast initiate."

"Learn what?" she asked after a beat.

"How to take orders from your superior." he replied instantly and stared down at her, the way he was looking at her told her she shouldn't talk back but despite herself she found she was doing it anyway, as if she had no control over herself.

"We were only having a look around, there's nothing wrong with that is there?" she replied and the man's mouth twitched at the corner as if he was about to smile and then he took another step towards her.

"Didn't you hear a word that I just said? Is there something wrong with your ears?" he asked.

"I heard you fine." she replied after a beat whilst never breaking eye contact with him and with that response he did smile, she knew that for sure that wasn't good and she wished she'd never opened her mouth at all, it had gotten her in trouble in the past and also very recently as well...obviously she'd not learned from her mistakes.

"What's your name?" he asked her and she swallowed before answering.

"Nix...what's yours?" she replied and mentally scolded herself.

He ignored her question and looked at Andie, "And what's your name?"

"Andie." she replied and he turned back to look at Nix.

"Go down to the kitchens and wash the dishes." the man said to Nix.

"Sorry?" she asked with furrowed brows.

"Thought you could hear me fine?" he asked her with a brief smirk.

"You want me to go to the kitchens...and wash the dishes?" she asked and he smiled whilst shaking his head, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"No, not you." he replied then looked at Andie, "Get going."

"Me?" Andie asked a beat later and looked between him and Nix.

"Am I looking at anyone else?" he demanded with a glare and she shook her head.

"No." Nix said and the man turned his head back to her slowly, "You're not really punishing her because of something I said...are you?"

"Ding ding." the man whispered with raised brows.

"But, that's not fair." Nix said to him and he lowered his brows in a deep frown and stepped closer to her, she wanted to step back from him but her feet wouldn't move.

"Next time you'll know to keep your mouth shut and do as you're told." he told her in a menacing voice with his eyes boring into hers until she looked at her feet, she then glanced over at Andie and hoped that the girl could understand that she was sorry, Andie only shrugged her shoulders in response.

"Get moving initiate, you'll stay there till everything is clean every night for a week and you're to wash it all by hand, I'll be checking in later to make sure you're doing just that." the man said to Andie then he turned to Nix, "And you...I'll escort you back to your dormitory."

Nix stared up at him with pursed lips before she stepped around him and headed back the way she and Andie had came, she looked over her shoulder to see the back of her as she headed to the dining hall.

She suddenly felt very deflated as she walked, it was her fault that Andie was being punished...all because she couldn't shut up.

"Four." A deep voice called out and Eric emerged from the tunnel Nix was heading towards.

"Eric." the man behind Nix said and she turned around to look up at him, so his name was four.

"I'll take care of this." Eric said and gestured to Nix without even looking at her.

"She's all yours." the man named Four that was behind Nix replied after an irritated look appeared on his face and then he was walking away in the direction he'd first come from earlier, when he was out of earshot Eric looked down at Nix infront of him and smirked.

"You're just making friends everywhere you go aren't you stiff." he said to her and a scowl appeared on her face, he grinned at her reaction then grabbed her upper arm in his large hand and practically dragged her towards the tunnel where he then shoved her roughly ahead of him and something in her then snapped.

"You DON'T have to manhandle me!" she shot at him loudly, surprising herself.

She might have thought that there was some remote kindness within him after he'd shared a piece of his dessert with her earlier but that was no longer in her thoughts, it had obviously been a very fleeting quirk of his.

A glare appeared on his face at what she said and then he marched the short distance that was between them until he was stood directly infront of her, "Remember who you're talking to initiate."

She stared up at him with her own glare for as long as she could until his gaze got the better of her, she looked away briefly then back at him and said, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't use as much force on me in the future."

One of his eyebrows rose at her words and he stared at a spot on the wall behind her for a moment, as if he was considering what she had said, he then took a step back and gestured with a nod of his head for her to continue on ahead of him.

She hesitated for a few seconds, watching his facial features carefully but they gave nothing away to her so she eventually started to move, however, something knocked her in the back of the head and caused her to stumble forward at the mild pain.

With a gasp she turned around and saw Eric's hand was raised in mid air, she then asked him in disbelief, "Did you...hit me?"

He responded by lowering his hand and walking slowly towards her, once he was stood infront of her a silence fell upon them and lingered briefly until he shoved her backwards into the wall, she crashed into it and almost fell down but she managed to catch herself.

"Hey!" She exclaimed loudly as she shoved herself away from the wall, he responded to this by then jabbing her in the stomach with his elbow, it wasn't that hard but it did make her wince and it managed to knock her off balance so she fell to the ground, "Ow!"

"Suck it up." he said in an almost bored tone and she suddenly saw red, growing up in abnegation she along with other members of the faction were regularly subjected to bullying by members of the other factions, mainly erudite and candor.

A week before the choosing ceremony she was deliberately tripped up by an erudite boy in the school hallway and her lip had burst when her chin hit the ground and caused her teeth to clamp shut on the flesh, he and his group of friends had then stolen the book she'd been holding and ripped pages from it before they took turns shoving her between them.

Erudite had always seamed to have a problem with abnegation but that time was the first time any of their members had done anything physical to her, it had only stopped when the school bell had rung.

She hadn't retaliated then, even though she'd wanted to but now was different, she wasn't abnegation anymore.

She shoved herself up so she was standing infront of Eric once more and without thinking her hand raised to hit him but he caught her wrist in his own hand and shook his head.

"That is an extremely bad idea stiff." he told her in a low voice.

"Let go of me." she said through gritted teeth and he then squeezed her wrist tightly in his hand, hard enough to make her eyes tear up, "Stop, that hurts!"

"You're going to get your ass kicked." he told her matter of factly and she stared at him with wide fear filled eyes.

"What is it that I've done to make you hate me so much?" she asked in a whimper and he rolled his eyes then let go of her wrist, she grabbed it and rubbed as she stepped back from him.

"By the other initiates." he stated as he crossed his big arms over his equally big chest and when she didn't respond to him he sighed in an annoyed way and said, "The first stage of initiate training is physical endurance, that includes us teaching you how to fight and all the techniques involved in it...you...you're weak, the others are going to pummel you, every time."

"I'm not weak." she replied in irritation.

"Yes you are." he said instantly and stepped towards her so he was invading her personal space, "Even if you had tried to defend yourself against me you never would have been able to."

"Yes I would have but I didn't know you were going to try and hurt me did I?!" she snapped.

"You never will!" he growled at her, "That's why you have to always be prepared just incase."

"I am prepared." she said and suddenly out of nowhere he backhanded her across the cheek, she stumbled to the side with a gasp and held her face.

"Really? Were you prepared for that?" he asked with a glare and she stared at him in disbelief which caused him to scoff at her, "Don't be dramatic I barely touched you."

Before he was fully finished speaking she found herself making a fist and threw it up towards his jaw but he whacked it away with his hand immediately.

"Really?" he asked and she tried the same thing again but this time with her other hand and he held his forearm up infront of his face to stop it, she let out an irritated sigh at his actions and in response he suddenly grabbed her own forearms and held them up, she gasped in surprise and expected him to try and twist them over her head or something but instead he positioned her arms up infront of her neck and chest.

"This is the proper way to block attacks." he told her, "Whenever you're against someone make sure you protect yourself at all times, don't leave yourself vulnerable."

He mimicked striking her in slow motion and she made sure to use her arms in a protective way to deflect it, he nodded his head with an expressionless face and nodded at her to go again, he repeated his actions once more only faster this time and she managed to stop him doing it again.

"You're at a both a disadvantage and an advantage with your size." he said and she made a face at him, he ignored her expression and continued, "Being smaller than the rest you'll need to always be on your guard with blocking when you attempt hits at your opponent."

As he was speaking Nix threw a punch at his gut which caught him off guard temporarily and he attempted to give her another backhand in return but she blocked it and then reached up and slapped the side of his head, however, she dropped her block for a second and he hit her against the mouth.

She looked up at him with a scowl from where she was on the ground and he stood above her shaking his head in disappointment, "Don't underestimate your opponent Phoenix."

She narrowed her eyes at him when he used her full name and he smirked at her reaction then reached his hand down to her, she looked at it as if it was a predator ready to attack her.

"It's just a hand." he said with a roll of his eyes and then she slowly placed hers into it and he pulled her up to her feet then he pointed at the corner of her mouth, "Let that be a lesson to you."

She reached a hand up and touched her mouth to feel it was wet, she pulled it away and saw her fingers had blood on them and she stared at him.

"Don't look at me like that, you're the one that left yourself open to an attack, I told you to make sure you always block...isn't my fault you didn't listen, it's yours, just like it's your fault the hippie is on cleaning up duty right now." he said.

She looked away from him to ignore the dig and pursed her lips, "You didn't have to hit me so hard."

"Hard? You think that was hard? I was going easy on you, you're going to get a lot worse than a busted lip over the next few weeks I can guarantee you that." he replied and she looked back at him, "We train you Monday to Saturday eight till six for a reason...if you listen and learn from this then you might just make it...but you though, you had better get working hard."

"What's that supposed to mean? That I'm going to fail?" she asked bitterly.

"From what I just saw? Yes." he replied immediately and she stared at him open mouthed, "It's only you that can change that."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." she muttered as he started to walk away and he halted then turned to look at her.

"Talking back is something you're going to have to learn to nip in the bud as well...you're in for a tough couple of months stiff so I suggest that each night you should really get as much rest as possible...starting tonight...move your ass." he said and finished the last part in a firmer tone.

She looked at the wall opposite her briefly before she started walking slowly towards him, thinking as she did about his comment on her talking back, she was actually very good at holding her tongue when she wanted to say something...it had never really been a problem until she joined dauntless, she assumed it was her newfound freedom that was causing her to speak out.

When she reached him he turned swiftly and started walking ahead of her and she had to walk fast to keep up with him as his legs were that long.

"Pick up the pace." he called over his shoulder at one point and she sighed.

"I know the way back, you don't have to show me." she replied and he glanced briefly behind him.

"I'm not showing you the way, I'm TAKING you back...to make sure that you don't take another detour." he told her and she rolled her eyes at him which caused him to stop walking.

She slowed to a halt a few feet away from him and watched as he turned around to face her, he gestured for her to come towards him but she didn't.

"Come...here." he told her slowly in a quiet voice and she swallowed, she then started to move towards him slowly and when she was stood about a foot away from him she halted, "During the initiation process you're awarded points...by your instructors and the leaders."

She stared at him as he spoke then she inwardly sighed and felt like banging her head on the wall at the realisation of his words, why couldn't she just follow him back to the dorm without saying a word?!

"You can also have those points taken away from you at any time." he added.

"I understand okay? I apologise...I won't roll my eyes at you or talk back or do anything else again." she replied quickly and a smirk slowly formed on his face.

"Did I look like I was finished speaking?" he asked and she closed her eyes briefly in annoyance, more at herself than him, "Well?"

"No...sorry I interrupted you." she replied in a monotone like voice.

"Dauntless is classed as the warrior faction, we are this city's defence...we train soldiers and good soldiers...they take orders." he told her and a frown formed on his face as he spoke, "Do I need to explain this to you in any way further?"

His question told her that the answer was no, that if she answered anything other than no then she would be in deep trouble.

"No." she said quietly then looked down at her hands as she fiddled around with her fingers.

"Good." he said simply then turned and began walking again, "Follow me and keep your mouth shut."

She did just that, she didn't want to annoy him anymore so she followed him in silence until they reached the initiate dormitory and he sent her inside with a glare before he disappeared.


	6. Chapter 6

***** DISCLAIMER ***  
**

 **I own NOTHING regarding the divergent series e.g. the books/the movies  
The only things I own are my own characters that I've created.**

* * *

A loud banging woke Nix up followed by brightness illuminating the dark room, she placed her hands over her eyes quickly to shield them from the light and rolled over onto her side.

She let out a quiet moan then gradually brought her hands away and took a peak in the direction of the noise, other initiates around the room were doing the same thing, her eyes found Adam at the top of the stairs that led into the dormitory and he had a cup which she assumed he'd used to bang against the railings of the stairs in his hand.

"Rise and Shine." he called out to them and some people groaned in response, Nix sat up in bed and rubbed her face gently, "First day of training, it's seven thirty five...you have from now until eight to get changed, have breakfast then meet in the pit...don't be late or points will be deducted."

There was silence in the room after he'd spoken and Nix noticed that he'd already left, she glanced around the others briefly and saw that the majority of them seamed to still be in bed half asleep or they were in the process of laying back down.

"Points?" a voice asked followed by a yawn and Nix turned her head to see Andie sitting up in the bed next to her.

"Morning." Nix said.

"Good morning." Andie replied with a smile.

"When did you get in?" Nix asked sheepishly, when she'd returned to the dormitory the night before it hadn't taken her long to fall asleep and she'd not heard Andie or anyone else coming back.

"Around...twelve? Maybe just after it." Andie replied with another yawn and began to get slowly out of bed.

"Andie I'm so sorry, It's not fair that you were punished, it should have been me." Nix said as she too began to get out of bed, some of the other initiates around them gradually began to copy their actions but most were still in bed.

"Don't worry about it Nix, it wasn't actually as bad as I thought it would be." Andie said as she made her way to her trunk at the bottom of her bed to retrieve her things.

"That doesn't make it fair, it was my fault." she replied as she too went to her own trunk to bring out her wash bag and fresh clothes, these clothes were the right size for her this time, when she'd come back the night before she found them in piles on her bed and the larger ones were all gone, her boots had been replaced too.

"Really Nix, it's okay." Andie said with a smile, "Come on, lets get in there before the others fully wake up."

Both girls headed for the bathroom with their wash bags in hand and when they stepped inside they headed to two sinks, Nix switched on the hot water and was surprised to find it was really hot, she expected it to need at least a minute to heat up regarding how old the bathroom looked.

"Was there...a lot to do?" she asked Andie quietly.

"Yeah." Andie said and Nix made a face, "I told you...don't worry about it."

Nix began to brush her teeth and Andie did too, once they had done that they used a facecloth to give their faces a clean.

"I got talking to this dauntless girl who works in the kitchen, she was an initiate last year, she's really nice I think you'd like her...she was a candor transfer." Andie said as they both began to sort their hair.

"Oh really?" Nix asked as she pulled her hair up into a ponytail and Andie nodded, "Did you tell her why you were there?"

Andie laughed, "Nix how many times? It's fine."

"I just feel really bad." Nix replied to her as some more initiated began heading into the bathroom, Andie smiled at them and said good morning and she received either a glare or no recognition at all in return.

"Friendly bunch." she said sarcastically as she and Nix left the bathroom and headed for their beds.

"What time is it?" Nix asked and Andie shrugged.

"No idea but we had better hurry for some food before our training starts, something tells me it's going to be a long and hard day." she said and Nix nodded.

O

Once the girls had changed they made their way to breakfast and as they walked Nix couldn't help but smile because she felt so much more comfortable in clothes that actually fit her.

When the girls arrived in the dining hall they were grateful to find that there wasn't nearly as much people in it this morning as there had been the previous night, that was probably because no one else had to be up this early right now.

"Ladies." a voice called out to them from a table near the entrance, there were five male dauntless members sat at it eating breakfast and two of them were familiar, one of them...the guy that called them over, was the dauntless born initiate Mark from the day before, the first jumper and the one that thought it was okay to put his hands on both Nix and Andie's bottom's.

The other familiar face was the man that had spoken with Andie on the train, Nix looked at her and saw that when she noticed the man she tried to turn away and disappear but before she could Nix impulsively took a hold of her arm and walked them both towards the table.

"Nix." Andie said under her breath as they approached the table, Nix only shrugged and smiled in response.

"Good morning." Mark said when they appeared.

"Morning." Nix replied then after a moment of silence passed she nudged Andie beside her.

"Hey." Andie said and tucked a piece of loose hair behind her ear.

"Will you sit?" Mark asked them with a grin and Andie started to protest.

"Of course, thank you." Nix immediately spoke over Andie and began to take a seat next to a dauntless member, the man beside Mark grinned at Andie as she sat down across from him, glaring at Nix as she did.

"So how are you this morning girls?" Mark asked as he began filling up their cups infront of them with juice, he then went on to ask with a grin, "Cry yourselves to sleep last night?"

"No we didn't." Nix replied in an irritated voice and then she nodded at her cup in thanks before looking back at him and smiling sweetly, "How are you this morning?"

"Oh I'm just Peachy." Mark replied immediately with a wink and he tilted his head to the side and glanced down the side of Nix, she rolled her eyes at him and made a noise of disgust.

"Are you always this...brash?" she asked him as she took a sip of juice, it was refreshing.

"Here Nix, some toast." Andie said to her as she placed some on her tray, Nix had never had toasted bread before, she'd always had oatmeal for her breakfast, "Put some butter on it or jam, makes it taste nicer."

"Thanks." she said to Andie before she picked up her knife and reached for the butter that Andie had pointed to, she then began to spread it over her toast slowly.

"Nix?" the man beside Mark asked and she looked at him and nodded, he held his hand out to her, "Nice to meet you, I'm Bill...and to answer your question, yes, he is always this brash."

Nix shook his hand with a smile, "I thought so...this is Andie."

Bill grinned at her and turned to look at Andie who was now burning a hole in the side of her head.

"Andie." he said and she looked at him, he then held his hand out to her, "It's nice to finally put a name to the face that I've not stopped thinking about since yesterday afternoon."

Andie blushed crimson at his words as she shook his hand and then she started to busy herself with her own toast, Nix felt a laugh bubbling in her throat at Andie's reaction and she had to try hard to keep it hidden.

"Easy there Billy, she's a bit young for you." Mark said and patted Bill on the back hard which caused the man to sit up straight in his seat.

"Woman prefer men...not boys." Bill replied and patted Mark on the back even harder causing his body to lurch forward, "Little brother."

Nix and Andie both looked at Bill after he added the last bit on to his words and Nix was the one who spoke first, "Brother?"

"That's right." Bill said with a grin.

"You do look similar." Andie said.

"I hope you agree that I'm better looking?" Bill asked with a wink and Andie was suddenly at a loss for words, a silence then fell over the table after that and the other members sat around it seamed to now be grinning amongst each other and Andie's blush only grew more prominent on her face.

Nix looked from her to Bill briefly before she decided to jump in to take some of the unwanted attention away from the girl, "Well you certainly seam to have the better manners...so far anyway."

"Better manners?" Bill asked immediately, his grin replaced with confusion, he then looked at Mark, "What have you been doing?"

"Nothing." Mark said with a grin.

"Yeah nothing...if you call 'nothing' grabbing both of our asses yesterday." Andie replied and Bill's eyes shot to her before he turned and glared at Mark.

"Technically I only slapped hers." Mark said and pointed at Nix who narrowed her eyes at him and he then looked back at Andie and said with a wink, "But I gave yours a good grab."

Andie let out a shocked gasp as Bill's hand suddenly lifted and slapped Mark over the back of the head hard, "What have I told you?!"

"Ow! Dick." Mark said with a glare at his brother who then slapped the back of his head again, Nix and Andie both glanced at each other as they watched the exchange and they noticed that some of the other members at the table shook their heads at the brothers before they went back to eating their breakfast.

"Have some respect for women you punk." Bill said after he grabbed the collar of Mark's jacket.

"Let me go!" Mark snapped at Bill who then did let go of his collar and the younger sibling elbowed his brother in return.

Nix glanced behind the brothers just as Eric walked towards their table and at the sight of him her stomach fell, she then glanced down at her toast and forced herself to take another bite, her chewing was slow as her appetite began to gradually disappear as he approached.

"What's the problem here?" he asked as he stood behind the brothers.

"No problem, my brother just needs to learn to keep his hands to himself that's all." Bill replied as he glared at his younger brother.

"Oh?" Eric said to Bill but his eyes were on Nix, she could feel his gaze as she took a sip of her juice.

"I'm a guy, can you really blame me?" Mark snapped at Bill who jabbed him with his elbow and shot back at him 'punk' before he shoved some eggs in his mouth.

"Like you wouldn't have tried it if the opportunity was infront of you." Mark said to Bill who shook his head at his brother, the boy then looked at the girls and gave them a smirk before he said, "Couldn't help myself ladies."

"In future, no touching." Andie told him sternly.

"If I was my brother it would be a different story though right? You'd let him touch you in all kinds of places!" Mark said with a laugh and Eric rolled his eyes.

"Watch your mouth." Bill told him in a threatening voice and Andie looked down at her tray.

"You know...you're not only rude you're also obnoxious." Nix found herself saying and Mark let out another laugh.

"What's the big deal? It's a compliment...especially for you." he replied and gestured to her and she saw Eric's eyes dart to her at what he said, "You'd be lucky if you can even call what you have an ass!"

Her eyes widened in response and Andie gaped, Bill's head turned to his brother and he lifted his hand to hit him again but another beat him to it.

Eric whacked Mark hard over the back of the head and just as the boy began to complain he grabbed the back of his neck and pressed his head down into the table, causing a jug of water to spill over it in the process.

The rest of the men at the table complained about the spilled water that was now going everywhere and Nix, Andie and Bill leaned away from it.

"Ow man! What the hell?!" Mark complained then groaned loudly as Eric squeezed his neck.

"Hey Eric, wanna ease up?" Bill asked from beside their leader as he stood up from his seat.

"I'm really not in the mood to listen to assholes today Benson." Eric said in a low menacing voice to Mark as he applied more pressure to him, ignoring the boy's brother.

"Get off me!" Mark snapped angrily as his face began to redden.

"Don't forget who you're talking to initiate." Eric practically growled at Mark before he eventually let him up and as soon as he did the boy stormed off in a huff.

There was a silence that fell upon the table after that then Bill sat down and went back to eating his breakfast.

Eric looked at Nix and Andie then said, "Being late on your first day won't help your points."

Andie turned her head to look at Nix and whispered, "What points?"

"What you'll lose if you're not in the pit in one minute." Eric replied, she and Nix then both looked at one another briefly before they looked back at him and a beat passed before he said, "Fifty five seconds."

They both then shot up from their seats and took off in the direction of the pit quickly.


	7. Chapter 7

***** DISCLAIMER ***  
**

 **I own NOTHING regarding the divergent series e.g. the books/the movies  
The only things I own are my own characters that I've created.**

* * *

The other transfers were already in the pit when Nix and Andie arrived, the group was gathered around a man, a man that both girls realised simultaneously as they moved closer to him was that he wasn't just any man...he was the man from last night, Four.

"Cutting it a bit fine." he said and raised a brow as the girls quickly joined the back of the group, Nix acknowledged him with a sheepish look before looking at her feet, "Now that you're all here let me explain what's going to happen...each day you'll be training Monday to Saturday from eight till six with an hour for lunch...my name is Four and I'll be your instructor."

Nix inwardly groaned, how could she have managed to butt heads with their instructor right before training starts?

"Your training will run over the next ten weeks and there's two stages to it, physical and mental...for both stages you will need to push yourselves, push yourselves hard to the point where you'll want to quit...you'll be trained separately from the dauntless born initiates but you'll be ranked together, the rankings will determine what jobs you move into after initiation...the higher ranked you are the better job you'll receive." Four continued and some people started to murmurer.

"How is that fair?" One of the candor boys asked.

"What?" Four demanded in a tone that said he really wasn't in the mood for questions.

"Well they were born and brought up here, that means they've had years to practise for this." Another candor boy answered.

"And?" Four asked with a shrug and he was met by a brief silence.

"Well...I don't think that's fair, I'm going to end up with a shit job at the end of this." The first candor boy that spoke replied and he was about to say something else but Four stopped him in his tracks.

"Looks as if you'll need to work extra hard then." he told the boy with a glare.

"This is bullshit." the boy said angrily to his friends and Nix watched Four closely after the boy had spoken, he seamed to just stand where he was and stare for what felt like forever before he eventually started to walk towards the boy, the initiates immediately parted to make way for their instructor who didn't stop moving until he and the candor boy were then toe to toe.  
An uncomfortable silence filled the air around them and it seamed as if it was never ending but Four then eventually spoke, "During your lunch hour today you'll be running laps of the training room." The boy began to immediately protest but Four cut him off, "Say another word and I'll add on an extra lap for each minute of that hour...you're already doing thirty."

The boy opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before wisely choosing to keep quiet, Four then swiftly turned and headed back to where he'd originally been stood just as Eric walked towards the group and nodded at their instructor, "Four."

Four replied to him with a nod and then he looked around each of the transfers, "Eric is going to be your other instructor through training."

Nix almost groaned at that statement and Eric glanced at her in that exact moment...he caught her rolling her eyes.

When she saw the corner of his mouth lift in a smirk she swallowed and looked down at her feet, wishing that the ground would open up and swallow her.

"Depending on how you rank at the end of each stage throughout your training you may be asked to leave." Eric said and everyone, including Nix's eyes shot to him.

"Asked to leave?" an erudite transfer asked after a beat.

"We will be keeping a close eye on you and the score board everyday and if we feel you're not improving or you're not pushing yourselves enough...you won't be continuing here." Eric replied and as he spoke he walked towards the group until he was standing a couple of feet away from Nix, she glanced up at him and he turned his head to look at her, "Understand?"

He was looking at her as he spoke but he was asking everyone, the erudite transfer then replied with, "So we leave and...become factionless?"

Eric turned his head to look at the erudite transfer and nodded, "That's right."

"That's not what usually happens here." a candor girl said.

"That's because it's a new rule we're trialling." Eric replied instantly and was met by silence.

"Trialling a new rule? So what, you're saying...we're just the guinea pigs in your experiment?" the candor girl then went on to say.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Eric replied with a sardonic smile.

"This isn't right, this is our lives that you're messing with." the same girl said and Eric rolled his eyes infront of Nix, she stared up at him and watched his facial expression change to irritated.

"It's been in talks for a while now, we've just decided to finally try it out." Four told everyone from where he stood.

"No doubt the dauntless born will be separate from this trial too." the first candor boy said to his friends.

"I warned you." Four said to the boy in a raised voice, "Sixty extra laps added on."

"What?!" the candor boy snapped back and Four stared at him with a glare that could probably turn him to stone, the look dared him to say another word but the boy just looked at his feet with a scowl.

"If you don't like this rule or you're scared because of it then you might as well leave now." Eric said a beat later and a silence fell upon the group, "We have no place for cowards here."

The majority of the transfers were now looking down but Nix was looking up at Eric and he was staring back at her, he then spoke so only she could hear, "What's it gonna be stiff?"

"I'm not giving up." she found herself whispering back after a beat had passed and he gave her an incredulous look.

"Weapons handling, first part of your training." he then announced to everyone as he began to walk away, he called out the last part over his shoulder before he disappeared, "Follow Four."

"Let's go." Four told the group before he started to walk in the opposite direction Eric had gone.

Nix suddenly felt extremely nervous about choosing dauntless, there was a chance she could be kicked out before she'd finished initiation...when you choose your faction you're supposed to be set for life, that is your life from then on unless for whatever reason it doesn't work out but this new rule...it wouldn't be enough to just get through initiation, if the instructors felt she wasn't working hard enough...she could end up factionless.

She couldn't fail...she had to succeed.

O

"How are you so good at shooting?" Nix asked Andie as they both practised blocking and attacking each other.

They had not long finished weapons handling which was up on one of the roofs of the compound, there were around two dozen human like targets lined up on different areas of the roof, the group had spread out around each of them with two different guns per person, Four had given them a brief description then showed them how to properly use and reload them, he had then instructed them to use both weapons on their target until he told them otherwise.

Nix had struggled quite a bit in the beginning, she'd missed the target each time she shot, she had watched Four very carefully on how to aim and fire but when she tried to do it herself she failed.

She had emptied and reloaded both guns three times each before she even managed to hit the target and by hitting the target what really happened was she skimmed the edge of the body.

There was a very small improvement after that, she managed to hit some parts of the target sometimes and it was nowhere near the centre where they were told to aim for.

About eighty five percent of the time she missed the target entirely whilst everyone else around her was managing to hit it.

After they'd spent a couple hours weapons training they were escorted down to the training room which was a huge open plan area that looked like an old warehouse, after she saw it she almost felt sorry for the candor boy that would be running around it...almost.

"Beginner's luck?" Andie asked with a grin, "Don't worry about not hitting the target that many times, it was your first time shooting."

"And yours and you were amazing." Nix said with a sigh as she and Andie continued to use their arms in the blocking position that Eric had shown her the night before.

Four had taught them the block and showed them how to strike also, he then set them out in pairs to practise both techniques.

When they'd first entered the training room they were given a short tour, there was a large matted ring area in the middle of the room and around that were these huge punching bags lined up on either side, there were also some smaller matted areas around the room along with some training equipment.  
After the tour Four had gathered them around the ring where he then began sparring with another dauntless member, he showed them the techniques to work on and he also showed them what else they'd be learning during their training, the display ended up with the dauntless member being punched and kicked to an extreme level before being flipped over onto his back.

The way the man was groaning afterwards told the group that he was hurt and that Four hadn't held back purely for a demonstration, he had told them that this was the kind of fight they were looking to see from each individual person, they expected them to win real fights against each other in order to earn points.

"What is that supposed to be?" A voice asked loudly and the girls turned their heads to see Eric walking towards them.

"Uh...what do you mean?" Andie asked hesitantly as he approached and he gestured to their arms.

"We're just doing what Four told us to do." Nix said and Eric's gaze turned to her.

"That isn't what he showed you to do." Eric said after he pointed at them and they both looked at one another briefly before he walked forward and elbowed Andie out of the way with a harsh, "Move."

Nix swallowed when her eyes were suddenly level with his chest and she glanced at Andie who was now stood at the side watching them with an anxious expression on her face before she looked up at him and as she did he removed his jacket to reveal a black short sleeved t-shirt underneath, her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when she saw his biceps, she knew the second she first saw him that he was a big built man but nothing could have prepared her for how his physique actually physically looked...he oozed power and it was terrifying yet at the same time, he was actually very nice to look at.

She could feel her cheeks heating up at her thoughts and she looked down briefly in hopes she could hide it, she noticed his forearms had matching tattoos from wrist to almost his elbow.

She could see the dauntless symbol in the middle surrounded by some type of pattern and before she could inspect further his arms were gone, she looked up to find he had his arms positioned in the blocking technique, she took a step back and sighed before she lifted her own arms up.

As soon as her arms were up one of his shot out and whacked hers hard so she stumbled backwards, she made a face at him and he lifted his brows before doing the same thing again which caused her to then glare at him.

"Come on, you were just doing this with your pal." he said and moved towards her again but she blocked his hit this time, barely though as she was still pushed backwards slightly, "I'll be scoring you on this."

His threat made her move toward him and she hit out as she did, however he easily blocked it and shook his head before saying, "That was pathetic."

She almost sighed in annoyance but thought better of it and instead attempted to hit at him again, he blocked it easily and countered with a light slap to the side of her head, the same thing she had done to him the night before and he grinned when he saw her shocked and annoyed reaction.

"Are you gonna hit me at any point stiff? This is getting boring." he said in a loud voice and she glared before giving him the impression she was going to hit out with her right hand but instead she shifted to reach up and elbow him in the shoulder with her left arm.

It barely did anything to him but he was surprised, that was obvious, however, his surprise didn't last long because he moved towards her whilst throwing a hit at her followed by another then another.

She managed to block them but as she did her body was shoved backwards by the force he put behind each of them, she tried to change direction and get him in the side of the body but his reflexes were sharp and he moved with her, as if he knew what she was thinking.

He threw another hit at her, then another and another, she continued to block but it started to become sloppy because her arms were beginning to hurt and she was growing tired, the constant spinning around in a circle and stepping backwards to deflect blows from a man that was built like a grizzly bear was consuming her energy quickly.

"I need-" she began to say but his hand shot towards her face and she had to quickly block him again, she groaned in frustration as he then hit at her again, she moved backwards quickly but he followed her every step and was on her again, his hits were relentless.

"Stop." she called out to him in a hurry and at that word he used his own blocked arms to shove hers backwards into her face and throat, he seamed to use a lot more force on that than he had before and she gasped out a breath and moved a hand to her throat but he grabbed her wrist and pulled it away from her neck to then spin it around so it was behind her back, she gasped out a pained cry at this.

The other initiates and Four around the room had gradually stopped what they were doing and were watching what was going on, Nix saw Four begin to slowly walk towards them.

"What was that stiff? You need to stop?" Eric asked, his mouth at her ear.

He pulled on her arm so it moved an inch further up her back and she bit her lip to stop the cry of pain leaving her mouth, she then tried to swing her free hand up to shove him away but it was impossible and also because he saw it coming, he grabbed it and held it tightly by her side.

"Phoenix." he whispered her name in her ear so only she could hear before he said in a louder voice, "I asked you a question."

"Yes." she said through gritted teeth a beat later but he didn't let her go, he tightened his hold and tears began to form in her eyes.

"Are you saying...you're giving up?" he asked in a mocking voice and she sighed in frustration.

"No." she managed to say after stealing a glance at the faces that were now gathered around watching the scene, she noticed the candor boy whom she learned was named Tom, the one that had thrown the rock at her on the roof the day before, the one that was being made to run laps of the training room for talking back to Four earlier that morning...he was whispering with his other candor friends and it was obvious that they were all clearly enjoying watching what Eric was doing to her, she looked away from them and continued to speak, "I just need...a break."

"Dauntless don't stop for breaks...they continue through the pain." he replied so that everyone could hear.

"I think she understands." Four finally said after a few more seconds of torture for Nix passed by, Eric however waited another few seconds before he eventually loosened his hold on her arms then he shoved her away so she almost stumbled to the ground, Andie however was there to grab her so she avoided it.

She couldn't bare to face the other initiates that were watching, she was too embarrassed and even more so since she was now crying, the tears were more out of frustration that she couldn't retaliate than they were about the burning pain she now felt in both of her arms.

"Dauntless never give up...let this be a lesson to you all." Eric said and he said the word 'this' with extra emphasis, Nix could feel his eyes on her but she didn't look at him she just let Andie hold her.

"Get back to it." Four called out to everyone after a brief silence, "Nix...two minutes."

Nix listened to the feet of the transfers moving away and then waited until she knew for definite that they were gone before she turned around.

Eric was still standing there and he was watching her with an expressionless face, she had to use extreme inner strength to stop herself from saying something she'd regret.

"Weak." he said before he walked away from them and she clenched her fists by her sides.

"Are you okay?" Andie asked her gently a beat later.

"We should get back to practising." she replied immediately then cleared her throat.

"Are you sure? Four said-" Andie began to say but Nix cut her off.

"I'm sure, come on." she said and sniffed before holding up her arms in the blocking technique and Andie's eyes widened.

"Your arms! There's bruises forming on them." she said and Nix inhaled deeply.

"He was hitting pretty hard." she replied as they both began to hit and block each other once more.

"No kidding! Are they allowed to do that to us? Physically hurt us I mean?" Andie said as Nix threw a hit her way that she wasn't prepared for, "Whoa, easy."

"It's dauntless...they do what they want here and Eric is a leader...no one is going to tell him what he can't do." she replied as she blocked an incoming attack from Andie.


	8. Chapter 8

***** DISCLAIMER ***  
**

 **I own NOTHING regarding the divergent series e.g. the books/the movies  
The only things I own are my own characters that I've created.**

 **Haylz93** Thank you for your review, I really appreciate the feedback! Glad you're enjoying the story and I hope this chapter is to your satisfaction. :)

* * *

"See something you like?" A man asked Nix as she stood looking at some images on one of the walls of the shop, he was taller than her...probably of average height for a man and almost every inch of his skin that was visible was covered in tattoos and piercings.

"I'm just looking." she replied with a quick smile as she looked him up and down, there were so many different shapes and patterns all over his body and as she looked at them she couldn't help but think that each one must hold some type of story, that mesmerised her.

Realising that she was now staring she quickly cleared her throat and turned her head to look at the images on the wall once more and as she did she muttered to herself, "I don't have a story yet...so I don't deserve one."

"You're a transfer from abnegation." the man said a beat later, it wasn't a question, Nix looked at him to see that he was regarding her curiously.

"How'd you know that?" she asked him and then her shoulders immediately slumped, "Let me guess...everyone's been talking about the STIFF that transferred, right?"

"Nope, I just have a good eye." he replied with a grin before continuing, "How about a piercing? Lot quicker than a tattoo."

Nix was about to answer the question but she hesitated, he then nodded his head slowly and said, "Let me guess, you don't deserve that either?"

She felt her cheeks warm as she realised that he'd heard what she'd said before and she waited a few seconds before she shrugged, "Well I do like them and they always look nice when I see people with them, like you...yours are cool but...I don't think they're for me."

"But you want a change right? I mean...why else would you have come here?" he asked.

"Well my friend wanted a tattoo, I came with her." She replied.

"That's not the reason, I've been in this business a long time and in that time I've learned how to read people...you're definitely looking for a change, something that really puts your old faction behind you." he said.

"Maybe." she replied with a smile after a brief moment of silence, she couldn't deny it.

"Do you trust me?" he asked after grinning at her and she glanced around where she was stood before looking at him.

"I don't know you." she replied.

He shook his head with another grin, "The dauntless answer is yes and you're dauntless now...come with me."

She watched as he began walking towards a door that was across the room and she hesitated at first but then she did eventually follow him.

He opened the door then led her inside and she was met by what seamed to be a little apartment, there was a small dining area with a kitchen and to her right there was a living area, there was also two doors across the other side of the room that she assumed was a bathroom and bedroom.

The door closing behind her had her suddenly uneasy, no matter how nice he seamed to be, she had just met the man...he was still a stranger.

Her thoughts were interrupted when he quickly moved ahead of her and grabbed a chair from the kitchen area, he sat it in the middle of the room and told her to sit, she found herself looking up at him with a raised eyebrow until he added on the word 'please', her legs then seamed to move on their own and before she knew it she was sat in the chair.

"Is this where you live?" she called out to him as he disappeared through one of the doors across the room.

"It is indeed." he called back as he re-entered the room a moment later, she turned to look at him and saw he had something in his hand.

"What's that?" she asked.

"It's clippers." he told her and she stared at him in a way that said 'what?', "They're for shaving."

She stared at him for moment more then said, "Shaving?"

"Shaving." he said with a nod.

"Hair?" She found herself asking aloud and she rolled her eyes at the question which made him laugh with a brief nod, she ignored his amusement and took note of his appearance once more, he was bald and he had no facial hair, "You don't have any hair TO shave."

"Very observant." the man said with a grin then he pointed at her with the clippers, "You have hair."

As his words registered Nix suddenly stood up and took a step back whilst practically growling at him as she did, "No way...there is no way that you are shaving my head!"

"Chill out sweetheart, I'm not some amateur...I know what I'm doing." he replied after laughing and then he pointed to the seat, "Sit down."

"No." she replied and folded her arms across her chest.

"You'll like what I'm going to do." he said with a smile, "Come on...you said you wanted a change."

"I said maybe and by change I didn't mean shaving my hair off!" she replied and he rolled his eyes.

"I'm not going to shave your hair off, I'm going to shave part of it off." he said.

"Well that's just so much better isn't it?" she replied sarcastically with raised brows.

"Oh come on...take a risk, you're dauntless now, not abnegation." he said to her, "Trust me...you'll like it."

"There's that word again...trust...I don't know you well enough to trust you." she replied.

"Again...wrong answer, I'm Mac." he said with a smile and held his hand towards her, she stared at it for a moment then took it and they shook.

"Nix." she replied and he nodded.

"Now you know me...therefore you can trust me." he said.

"It doesn't work that way." she told him and he nodded his head.

"It does here, now please...sit down, I promise...you'll like what I'm going to do, maybe even love it." he said and she stared at him for a long moment before eventually sighing and sitting down, it couldn't be as bad as she thought it would be surely and after all, he did have a point...she was no longer abnegation.

He looked really pleased with himself as she moved to sit in the seat and he pulled her ponytail loose once she was sat infront of him, he then let out a whistle and said, "That is some length of hair that you have there, it's really nice too."

"That's why I don't want you shaving it off." she replied and he let out a sigh.

"Nix...will you please just let me work?" he asked as he gathered up most of her hair onto the top of her head then clipped it up so it stayed in place, she could feel part of her hair hanging down from behind her ears around the back of her head, "I need you to stay very still now okay?"

The sound of the clippers now switched on scared her and she wriggled in the seat, Mac held onto her shoulders so the clippers in his hand were right beside her ear.

"Still Nix." he said.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing? And I'd really like to know what that is!" she replied and he chuckled.

"Now that would spoil the surprise." he said and her eyes widened.

"For which one?!" she asked and her voice came out high pitched.

"I like you stiff." he said after laughing at her, "Now please, just trust me and stay still...okay?"

"Okay." she reluctantly said a beat later and then before she knew it the clippers were on the back of her skull buzzing away, when she felt a piece of her hair falling away she let out a whimper and Mac made an amused sound.

The vibrating feeling made her teeth hurt and it tickled her head too, especially around the side of her ears.

Mac moved his hand slowly over the lower part and then middle of her head for about maybe three minutes before the buzzing stopped, indicating the clippers were turned off.

"Done." he said and started to unclip her hair so it fell down her back once more.

"You're done? That's it?" she asked as she stood up.

"Yeah, unless you want more off?" he teased, "Hold on."

He halted her and lifted up her hair once more then he began to use what felt like a brush against the back of her neck before he let go of her hair again.

"Come with me." he said and led her towards one of the doors which turned out to be the bathroom, "Look in the mirror and tell me what you think."

He took a hold of her hair once she was stood infront of the mirror and held it up in his fist in a makeshift ponytail, she could see now that from behind both of her ears, her hair was shaved and it moved around and upwards slightly in a pyramid shape to the back of her head, there were also three thinner horizontal cut line that filled the shape.

She let out a quiet gasp and turned a little, he moved with her so she could look at it from the side.

"Wow...that's-" she began to say but he cut her off.

"Cool." he finished with a grin.

"Yeah...it is, I never imagined this is how it would look." she said as she lifted a hand up to feel her head, the hair that was left over was very soft.

"Here hold this up, I'll get another mirror for you to see the back." Mac said and she took the hold of her hair from him, he disappeared as she turned around to the other side to see and she smiled, this new style was so completely different to anything she'd ever had before and that was always just a trim and even then she'd always wore it up in a bun, she'd never have imaged herself with her hair styled this way.

She loved it.

"Here we are." Mac said as he returned less than a minute later with a small square shaped mirror, he held it up behind her so she could look at the back of her head, the whole lower part of the back of her head up to a point in the middle about a couple of inches above both ears was shaved and it looked great.

"Thank you Mac...I...I love it." she whispered with a smile and he smiled back.

"You're welcome...I told you that you could trust me." he replied and she grinned.

"I'm glad I did." she said and he put the mirror down.

"The best part is too." he said and took the hold of her hair from her and let it fall down her back, "It looks the exact same as it did before only now...when you tie it up, you'll see the shaved part."

"I think I like the shaved part better." she said after a beat and he laughed.

"You'll be coming back for me to shave it all off next time." he replied and she smiled.

"Well...let's not get ahead of ourselves." she said and he grinned.

"It really does suit you." he said as he left the bathroom and walked towards the chair, she followed him out.

"You think?" she asked.

"Oh absolutely." he replied with a grin as he moved to get a brush to sweep up the bits of her hair on the floor.

"Here let me." she said and made a move to take the brush from him.

"Nope." he said and held it away from her, "You get going, get back out there with your friends."

"Are you sure I can't help?" she asked and he nodded.

"Go and come back when you decide on a tattoo." he said and she smiled.

"How much am I due you for this?" she asked and he waved a hand at her.

"It's on me." he said and she began to protest but he stopped her, "No arguing, it's a gift...sort of like a 'welcome to dauntless' thing."

"Thank you Mac." she said with a smile and he returned it before ushering her out of the room, she gave him a wave before she left.

O

Once she was in the tattoo shop again Nix looked around for Andie and saw her being led around a corner of the room by a woman and they suddenly both disappeared from view, Andie's feet could then be seen peaking out and raised off the ground, she was obviously just getting her tattoo now.

Nix moved towards where her friend now was but as she walked she bumped into someone topless who had just walked right into her path, the chest of this person was solid and she bounced off of it and into a tray covered in tattooing equipment behind her, she almost fell but the person grabbed her arm and yanked her forward and back into his hard torso, a torso that was sculpted in what could only be described as wonderfully captivating ripped muscles.

The chest she was practically stuck to was rising and falling fast and it was hot too, she waited a beat before she said, "I am so sorry, please forgive me for that."

"You should pay attention where you're walking next time stiff." The person replied.

She knew the voice and she knew who it belonged to, she looked up and was greeted by a glare from none other than Eric, she quickly stepped back from him whilst tucking her hair behind her ears.

"Sorry." she muttered without looking at his face but not looking at his face meant she was looking at his naked torso and she was thankful there was mostly darkness in the tattoo shop so that no one, especially not him, could see how red her face had gone at the sight before her.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her as he began to pull his black t-shirt over his head.

"What do you think I'm doing here?" she replied quickly and she instantly regretted it because the look she got in return was an extremely cold one.

She couldn't help the way it came out of her mouth, she was annoyed, annoyed because he'd asked her why she was there in a tone that suggested it was illegal, she was also annoyed that the sight of him with hardly any clothes on could have such a deep effect on her.

"Wanna try that again?" he asked with a frown.

She waited a beat before replying to him this time, "Andie came to get a tattoo...she wanted me to come with her."

He stared at her briefly before he made an amused sound, "Thought as much...you don't seam the type that would get ink."

That irritated her.

She glared at him then asked in a clipped tone, "Why? Because I was a stiff?"

"Because you ARE a stiff." he shot back with his own glare, "You're not dauntless yet initiate."

"I will be." she told him matter of factly and he almost laughed...almost.

"I'll believe THAT when I see it." he replied and walked past her, bumping her in the shoulder roughly as he did so she was shoved backwards, she turned and watched him go with pursed lips before she continued on her original path towards where Andie had gone and when the girl saw Nix she waved and said, "There you are!"

"Sorry I disappeared." she replied with a smile.

"Where did you go?" Andie asked and Nix waited a beat before answering.

"I was getting a hair cut." she replied and Andie looked at her hair.

"Really...uh, it looks...the same but it's really pretty!" she said and Nix grinned before gathering up her hair then turning so her back was facing Andie, "Whoa! You got it shaved?!"

"Do you like it?" Nix asked.

"I love it! It's so different and...surprising." Andie replied with a laugh.

"I know, it was a spontaneous decision...and not mine." Nix said with a smile as she thought about Mac.

"That's cool." the woman doing Andie's tattoo said with a grin.

"Thanks." Nix said then looked at Andie as she dropped her hair, "So what are you getting?"

"It's just a little image of the Amity fields." she replied with a grin.

"That sounds nice." Nix said and watched as the tattoo artist held the black pad against the inside of Andie's upper arm.

"I just wanted something to remember them by." she said.

"I understand." Nix replied with a nod.

"Are you gonna get one?" Andie asked and she shook her head.

"Maybe...it won't be today though." she said and Andie nodded.

"I need to do something real quick but I'll be back, just lie there and relax, try not to move." the tattoo artist said to Andie and she disappeared.

"Does it hurt?" Nix asked Andie once she was sat on the stool beside her.

"Not really, it's just a bit tight." she said with with a slight grimace and Nix nodded, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay...my muscles have been a bit tender since we had dinner but I guess that's just because I'm not used to the physical training." Nix replied with a shrug.

"I meant after what happened with Eric? And the training will get easier." Andie said.

"I'm weak." Nix said after shrugging her shoulders and Andie shook her head.

"No you're not weak, don't listen to what he said." she said with a frown.

"It's true though...I could barely hold him off today." Nix replied.

"That's because the guy has like a foot on you and probably weighs more than double what you do! Don't put yourself down, it took a lot of guts to go against him...I don't think I could have." she said with a smile and patted Nix's hand.

"Well I'll be sure to come to you first thing tomorrow to test that theory initiate." the voice that was becoming a little too familiar to Nix suddenly filled the room and both girls gasped in surprise at his swift appearance, Andie's not surprisingly was a little more dramatic than necessary.

Nix turned her head and found him leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his chest.

"That's going to hurt like hell when you take a hit." he said as he pointed to Andie's arm tattoo.

"From you?" she asked hesitantly and he nodded, "But...what if I block you?"

"Really?" he asked as his eyebrows shot up and Nix noticed the corner of his mouth lift up in a smirk, "You think that on your second day of training, you'll block me? I can hardly wait to see it."

"I do have some experience with fighting you know." Andie replied and Nix saw her trying to hide a grin.

Eric rolled his eyes, "I'm sure you do, Amity."

He used extra emphasis on the last word then glanced at Nix briefly before turning his attention back to Andie who was looking at her hands in her lap with a smile on her face.

Feeling suddenly uneasy Nix fidgeted on the stool she was sat on and swallowed as she thought to herself, what was happening?

It was as if she was intruding on a private conversation they were having and also she wasn't sure...were they...flirting, with one another?

She couldn't tell if they were or not...not that she knew what it was, she only really began to understand what the word meant when she joined dauntless and she'd saw it happen a few times in the day and a half she'd been there throughout the entire compound and in so many different strange ways, she'd never experienced anything like it herself or even seen it happen back in abnegation, abnegation don't even kiss in public, she'd seen plenty of that here.

Andie seamed like she was flirting, she was throwing back comments at him that Nix probably would have gotten scolded for which was annoying, what was more annoying though was that it was bothering her, she'd gotten the impression that Andie liked Bill yet here she was flirting with Eric and he didn't seam to be dissuading her in any way either.

How could she act like she really liked one person and then act the same way with another? How could she even act this way when she knew how much the man had terrorised her since she arrived?

She didn't want to listen to it anymore as it was becoming more infuriating to her by the second so she quickly stood up and said to Andie as she did, "I'm going back to the dorm."

"Aren't you going to wait with me?" Andie asked and Nix shook her head.

"Sorry, I feel a lot more tired than I realised...and sore." she replied, saying the last part over her shoulder with a pointed look at Eric who smirked at her in response, she turned back to look at Andie, "Early night."

"Okay, I shouldn't be too much longer here." Andie said with a smile and Nix nodded then turned to walk away, Eric's eyes followed her as she did but she didn't look at him, "See you back there."

Nix didn't reply to Andie, she just kept walking, she felt too exhausted and emotional to be feeling jealous towards her friend, not that it was jealousy, she wasn't even sure how that felt really because she'd never felt it before either, not really...there were a lot of new feelings she'd discovered that she was feeling since she joined dauntless, why would she even feel jealous?

The man treated her like a parasite yet he had the ability to make her feel this way by exchanging a few words with her friend, her only friend, was it because they seamed to...hit it off? Or was it because Andie wasn't being treated by him the way that she was.

Maybe it was purely because she wasn't a stiff and no one in dauntless or any other faction for that matter seamed to like stiff's, well, dauntless weren't actually too bad with abnegation...they were known to, like the other factions, to tease them but they'd never outright bullied them like erudite had.  
The more she thought about that the more it seamed to annoy and upset her, Eric had mentioned Andie's tattoo to her after overhearing their conversation...a tattoo which was of the amity fields, her previous faction...something to remember them by, surely he'd heard her say that?

He'd told Nix not to even THINK about abnegation...yet the fact Andie was getting a tattoo of hers didn't matter?

Why was that fair?!

She headed for the exit of the tattoo shop as quickly as possible and as she neared it she spotted Mac with a customer, he spotted her also and called out to her with a smile, "Off already?"

She didn't stop walking as she replied, "I am, thanks again."

She pointed to her head and he gave her a thumbs up, "Let me see it again."

She smiled and lifted her hair up above her head then did a little spin for him and he gave her a cheer which made her laugh, she was surprised she managed to twirl whilst still walking without tripping up over her feet.

"Beautiful!" he called after her as she walked out the door, "Don't be a stranger!"

"I won't!" she called back over her shoulder and continued walking, the smile gradually faded from her face as she did and she sighed, why would she be feeling the way she was towards her friend and the man that had, since she met him, gone out of his way to intimidate her...well that may have been slightly dramatic, it had only been two days and he was probably only acting the way a dauntless leader would towards an initiate in hopes it would help them improve, maybe...or maybe she was just taking it to heart too much.

She sighed again and shook her head of the thoughts of Eric, it had been a long day and all she was looking forward to now was getting into bed, after having a shower to de-stress and rest her aching muscles first though.

At the thought of the shower she halted and stared ahead before she let out a loud groan that echoed throughout the tunnel and then she began walking again.

"What are you complaining about?" Came from behind her and she slowed down until she was once again halted and then she briefly closed her eyes with a long sigh.

Why was he always there?

"What now." she moaned to herself as she heard his footsteps approaching, he then moved to stand infront of her and when he did he was a little too close for comfort so she took a step back, however, he stepped with her.

She waited a beat before she looked up at him and when she did she found that he was glaring down at her and she rolled her eyes at him, she really wasn't in the mood to deal with him and why should she have to? She was on her way back to the dorm...she wasn't doing anything she shouldn't be.

"You know if the wind changes your face will stay like that." Her eyes widened the second the words left her mouth, words she could never get back...they were out there now and he heard them, she closed her eyes with a shake of her head and tried to come up with an explanation for not only him but herself as to why she had said that, "I didn't...I didn't mean to say."

She cut herself off from finishing what she was saying and opened her eyes to find he was staring at her with that glare still on his face, finding no way to explain herself she just shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm still waiting for you to answer my question...what are you complaining about?" he said a beat later in a scarily calm voice.

"Nothing." she replied immediately and he narrowed his eyes at her response which told her he was expecting an answer, "Well...I...I just...you know what, you don't want to hear about it."

She made a move to step around him but he moved with her and blocked her path, "Oh I really do."

"Well I don't want to tell you." she shot back and made a move once more to step around him but he grabbed her upper arms and stopped her, she looked up at him and found him looking at her expectantly, she stared up at him for a beat then sighed, he wasn't going to let her go without an answer, "Fine, if you really want to know...I was thinking about showering but then I remembered that the showers are open for everyone to see and Andie isn't with me right now and she said to me that she would hold a towel up to stop anyone from seeing and-"

She decided to cut herself off from babbling any further, her face had been heating up with each word she said and as she had spoken he remained expressionless and he remained that way after he loosened his hold from her arms which caused her to immediately take a step back from him.

She waited a beat then shook her head before she looked past him briefly, she did this just as he asked her, "Are you afraid someone will see you naked?"

Those words coming out of his mouth and to be talking about her had her cheeks suddenly burning, her eyes shot to his face and she swallowed before replying, "Well...obviously."

That clearly was the wrong answer because his face hardened and he took a step towards her so they were toe to toe, she looked up and saw him staring down at her, "Dauntless are supposed to be fearless."

She sighed and replied, "Well I'm not dauntless yet, I'm only an initiate, that's something that you love to keep reminding me of."

"And you never will be dauntless with that attitude." he said firmly.

"It's my first day...would it kill you to give me a break." she snapped, the irritation getting the better of her and his nostrils flared.

"Weren't you listening to what I said this morning? If I feel you're not trying hard enough I can get rid of you." he told her and clicked his fingers, "Like that...you'd be gone just like that and right now...I feel like you're not trying hard enough."

She stared up at him with a scowl then said in a firm voice, "It's my FIRST day."

He stared down at her with an equal looking scowl on his own face and said, "You're on extremely thin ice stiff."

"I've done nothing to be." she replied in a quiet voice and took a couple of steps back from him, he then moved towards her and didn't stop, he kept moving until she was forced to take more steps back and it wasn't long before her back was against a wall with nowhere to go.

There was a silence between them after that, a long and painful one, she didn't know what to do other than stand her ground and she did this by staring up at him.

He stared back at her briefly before his eyes began to roam over her face and then he raised his hand which caused her to flinch and he frowned at her.

"We're not in the ring yet initiate." he told her in a low voice.

"We weren't last night either." she replied and touched her lip where he had hit her.

He glanced at her mouth briefly before he touched it lightly with his thumb, the rest of his fingers seamed to float next to her cheek...never touching the skin.

It unnerved her and she stared up at him with wide eyes, presuming that he would tear her lips from her face at any second if she so much as moved.

He didn't, instead he moved both his hands to either side of her head so he had her caged in between his arms, her heart was pounding the whole time in anticipation of what he would do next.

He gradually moved his hands to her head where he gripped her hair in them and she squeezed her eyes closed, this was it...she was going to get her head smashed against the wall for being a nuisance.

However...that never happened, she only felt her hair being lifted up gently and then his big hand cupped the back of her newly shaved head.

She opened her eyes and watched his face as his hand gently rubbed the shape on her head, her breathing had slowed to almost the point where it was non-existent.

This wasn't real...it couldn't be.

"I like this, it's nice...suits you." he said after a beat and it was as if he was saying it more to himself than to her.

She made an 'o' shape with her mouth as she watched his face, a smile played on the corner of his mouth as he ran his hand over the shaved part and into the part that was held up, he then let the hold he had of her hair in his other hand go so it cascaded over his hand and down her back.

"Thanks." she managed to say back but it came out as a whisper and his eyes found hers, he stared for a moment before the hand cupping her head let it go and he stepped back from her whilst inhaling a deep breath.

Suddenly she could breathe again and her heart beat started to return to it's normal rate, he took another step back from her and swiftly turned to walk off but not before he quickly said over his shoulder, "The clothing store near the tattoo shop sells bathing suits."

And just like that, he was gone.

She stood where he left her against the wall wondering...what just happened?


	9. Chapter 9

***** DISCLAIMER ***  
**

 **I own NOTHING regarding the divergent series e.g. the books/the movies  
The only things I own are my own characters that I've created.**

* * *

Three weeks in dauntless passed by quickly and Nix realised after the first few days that she and Andie had seamed to have gotten themselves into a routine, they would wake early each morning, dress, head for breakfast and they'd somehow managed to time it so that they always arrived in the training room a few minutes before they were due to start each day.

Every day their training swapped around, they would either be in weapons handling from eight till twelve then from one till six it would be combat training or vice versa.

After training every evening everyone seamed to have the same idea, they would all automatically go straight for the dining hall before heading back to their dormitory to wash up as they were always starving once they were dismissed.

The other transfer girls seamed to simultaneously rush off to buy bathing suits for themselves once they'd saw Nix and Andie doing it that second night, a couple of them even praised Nix on what good of an idea it had been, she didn't however tell them that the idea hadn't been her own.

All of the girls except for one soon had bathing suits in their possession, the one who didn't was the candor girl that had spoken up the day Four and Eric had briefed them on what would be happing for the ten weeks of initiation, her name was Tracy and she openly showered naked with what seamed to be the majority if not all of the boys in their dormitory, Nix didn't realise candor's were THAT open.  
The whole bathing suit situation came about after her encounter with Eric in the tunnel after she'd left the tattoo shop, Nix had decided to seek out the tip he had given her about the store that sold suits, she was still surprised to this day that he'd even told her about them in the first place, especially since he'd chastised her just moments before about not being 'fearless' enough to mind being naked in front of the other initiates.  
She'd run into Andie when she'd been heading to the clothing store and told the girl what she was planning, Andie thought the idea was brilliant and decided she wanted to get herself a bathing suit too and she did but it wasn't a suit, it was a two piece that looked like underwear...she called it a bikini, Nix wasn't keen on those but it turned out she had no choice but to get one herself as there were no one piece bathing suits in dauntless.  
The whole time she was showering, despite being covered up by the suit, or rather semi covered up by the barely there material of the suit she couldn't help but feel ashamed...if her mother could see her, she'd shuddered thinking about it but kept reminding herself that she wasn't abnegation anymore, when she'd stood under the water for the first time with Andie and some of the other girls they'd all received wolf whistles from the boys that were in the dormitory with them, Nix wanted to and would have waited until they'd disappeared but none of them as Andie had pointed out were going anywhere soon so she had no choice but to get it over with.

Nix had showered as quickly as she could that night as most of the comments that the boys had started to make were directed at her, they weren't ALL the usual nasty ones she was used to receiving, they were still 'stiff' related but they were mainly comments about her legs and stomach looking surprisingly nice or that her breasts looked good in her suit.  
Andie had told Nix once they were changing from their wet suits into their clothes for bed, Nix with her towel wrapped tightly around her, that 'she should be flattered' as 'most of the guys couldn't take their eyes off her', it hadn't flattered Nix...it had made her feel very uncomfortable.

Once food and washing up after training was out of the way, the initiates would usually have two or three hours of free time before they had to return to their dormitory for their curfew at ten, except on Saturdays, there was no curfew that day.

That's how each day had been throughout those weeks and with each day the training got tougher, Nix had definitely improved with the weapons handling as she now managed to hit every target that she shot at, sometimes they weren't great hits because she and the others were instructed most times to shoot at moving targets that would be brought out but nonetheless she always hit them.

They were introduced to knife throwing on the second day of training and Nix was the best out of all of the initiates at that task, this surprised everyone...including herself, she had hit just outside of the bullseye on her first try which caused Four to suspiciously ask her if she'd had experience with the type of activity before already, she had been very shocked at that even more so since he'd asked her in such an accusatory way.

She was from abnegation so of course she'd had no experience, with nothing, nothing that she'd done since she arrived in dauntless.

From the moment she had picked up that first knife she seamed to go into a zone, maybe it was the fact that she was holding a real weapon, the guns they used were real weapons too but they weren't loaded with live ammunition but one wrong move with the knifes and she could really hurt someone or kill them.

Even with Andie's non stop talking along with the chattering of the other initiates, she didn't break focus for anything until they were finished with their task.

She'd also gotten compliments on her hair from some of her fellow initiates when they'd noticed it before they had started the throwing that day, it seamed to give her a slight confidence boost.

ooo

There was a huge electronic board in the training room and it had everyone's names on it, there was a cut off line from number fifteen onwards and the names after that line were in the colour red...this was the scoring system and since day one until now, Nix's name was in red and below the line.  
There were a mixture of dauntless born and transfers in the top fourteen but mostly dauntless born, Andie was also in the top fourteen.

Seeing her name in the red everyday definitely put a dampen on her spirits and sometimes she thought about if the pain she felt physically and emotionally everyday was worth it, she seamed to be stuck at number twenty three for the last twelve days and being stuck there when the initiates were being graded every single day distressed her, she was always pushing herself to her limits yet it was getting her nowhere.

Since the night she'd seen him on her way back to the dormitory, Eric hadn't really physically interacted with her, most days of their training unless he was away doing something elsewhere he would be present in the training room.

He mainly just walked around each of the initiates observing what they were doing and he never lingered near one person for more than a short moment as he did and his attitude towards her training certainly hadn't changed, from him she always received a look of displeasure here or a rude comment of discouragement there, despite that short few of the somewhat nicer initiates and of course Andie, Eric and everyone else seamed to treat Nix as if she was already factionless.

If he wasn't observing then he would be standing near the ring watching sparring or just standing watching what was going on around him.

He would disappear during the training to observe the dauntless born initiates from time to time too, Nix, despite the verbal treatment she was constantly always receiving from him definitely preferred that to a physical interaction.

Andie, who was always there to counter Eric's words with ones of encouragement was watching her more closely during their training as each day went on and her asking if Nix was 'okay?' was becoming a lot more frequent, she'd never really been an angry person before she came to dauntless but thoughts of Eric or of those times during the first couple of days in dauntless with him were usually mainly what triggered it, however, the fact that Andie kept looking at her as if she was some weak wounded animal that needed rescuing was beginning to gradually annoy her, of course being the person that Eric had targeted to be the subject of his cruel and discouraging words everyday would trouble anyone terribly and make them want to quit but the fact that Andie thought that of her too was what hurt the most.  
It didn't matter that she was good, maybe even the best at knife throwing above the other initiates, they all seamed to view the combat training as the most important part about being dauntless and they all looked at her the same way...that she was a weak stiff that would be the first person to be thrown out because she was too useless to continue training.  
Eric wasn't known for being one to praise an initiate when they performed well in training but he definitely had favourites, it was mainly the dauntless born but from the transfers he seamed to hover the longest when he was observing at Tom, the candor boy, the one that he'd punched on the day they all transferred into dauntless, Nix had come to the conclusion that Eric had punched him that day because he didn't get the satisfaction of shoving her off that roof himself.

Out of the two men Four was the one that would stop at each initiate and either scold them or praise them on what they were doing, sometimes he'd offer them tips or stay with them and either hold their punching bag they were working on as he shouted out instructions at them or he'd spar with them briefly.

He was an extremely good fighter and even taking on board everything he said, every time he would spar with Nix he'd either knock her to the ground by catching her off guard or elbow her in the face by again, catching her off guard.

The list was endless and almost everyday she left training with some type of mark on her body.

She was better than when she first started but she'd only improved slightly, Andie was ferocious when it came to fighting, she punched and kicked the bags she worked on as if they were real people trying to attack her, when the initiates paired up Nix was always a little bit scared of sparring with her, they were friends...they'd actually very quickly became best friends but that didn't stop Andie, she would throw hits that landed and block hits that came her way, Nix was always sweating and breathing hard after practising with her but she liked it because Andie was helping her get better, even if her score didn't improve because of it she definitely felt as if she getting stronger.  
Fighting was Andie's bubble, she never looked at Nix with that sympathetic smile when it came to that form of training, she was like Four in a way, she wouldn't go easy on her opponent just for the sake of it or because she was better than them, she really went for it.

Despite going in her bubble when she was fighting Nix noticed that she would always have a glance around for either Four or Eric to see if they were watching her, mainly Eric, she was good and she knew it but she didn't look for him purely because she wanted him to see her skills, ever since that night in the tattoo shop...she wanted him to look at HER.

'Do you think he'll go easy on me? My tattoo isn't sore but there's an uncomfortable feeling there and he did say it would hurt when I took a hit' was what she'd started their conversation off the following day with, Nix had immediately felt irritated and feigned confusion about who she was talking about only for the girl to reply with, 'Eric, he and I were bantering about it remember?', Nix had to resist rolling her eyes at her choice of words and then she responded in a harsher than necessary tone, 'he doesn't banter Andie, it was more of a threat than anything else, he will probably go out of his way to hurt you just to teach you a lesson for having the nerve to talk back to him', if Andie had noticed the tone Nix used she didn't let on about it, instead she'd giggled and made a comment about him 'obviously' having a nicer side to him, Nix would have replied with a humourless laugh but the man himself and Four had arrived and got them started with their training for the day and as Andie had smiled at Eric every time he looked in her direction, which wasn't very often, Nix knew she waiting for him to appear and fulfil his 'promise' that he'd made to her but he never did...he barely even acknowledged her and her disappointment had been very evident.

Twice during the week their training also consisted of going out for a run for an hour with Four, sometimes it was just around the compound and other times they'd actually leave the dauntless compound and go outside.

Nix found it enjoyable out running, she preferred that to getting hit, she was actually pretty decent at it too, she even went running for an hour herself on their day off because she liked it so much, she was limited to the compound when running alone but she didn't mind that, Four always set the pace running at the front of the group when he took them out and she always managed to keep either up with him or just behind him.

ooo

That was how things had gone up until now, Tuesday morning, combat training first, Andie and Nix wandered into the training room with the rest of the initiates just before eight and they found Four and Eric stood side by side just outside of the ring waiting for them, their stance told the group that either something was happening this morning or they had something important to say.

The girls looked at one another curiously as they stopped infront of their instructors followed by the rest of the group, Four was the one to speak, "Today we're going to see if you've been paying attention in training."

"First and last jumper of your group." Eric then added and Andie turned her head to look at Nix, "In the ring."

Nix looked back at Andie then swallowed before she walked forward, as she approached the ring she glanced at Eric who was watching her with a blank face, she turned her head to the other initiates to see who her opponent would be, she'd forgotten who the last jumper was.

"Did I stutter?" Eric asked a beat later in a loud voice and then he immediately boomed behind Nix, "Last jumper!"

After almost a minute of waiting had passed a blonde girl who was one of the quieter initiates stepped forward, there was no denying the fear on her face as she walked towards the ring and Nix could see her shaking from where she was stood waiting, she found it hard to believe that shaking was because she was facing her, it must have been the tone of voice that their oh so joyous leader had used.

Her name Nix then suddenly remembered was Caroline and she was an erudite transfer, she didn't really have much muscle about her instead she was of a slimish build but she had a good three or four inches in height against her and as the girl stepped into the ring Nix brought her arms up in the blocking position and crouched slightly, Caroline immediately halted and just stood there wide eyed watching her, she then looked at Four and asked, "This is just sparring right?"

"No. It's a real fight." Eric answered instantly, "Get on with it."

Nix kept her eyes on Caroline and took a few deep breaths as she waited for the girl to prepare her own arms in the block position and she did, slowly, Eric's voice then said from behind her where he was stood outside the ring, "You could have gotten at least a few hits in already stiff, what are you waiting for?"

At his words, which received some sniggers from the candor transfers and in turn caused anger to slowly build within her, she began to stalk towards Caroline and the girl's eyes were darting up and down her body as she did which gave Nix the opportunity to throw a punch towards the side of the girls head which knocked her off balance slightly and she whimpered then backed away.

For a long moment after that first hit they just moved around the ring with each other, a couple times Nix made a move towards her but she always moved away quickly.

An irritated sound left Eric's mouth before he called out, "Start fighting or either myself or Four will be taking one of your places! And we'll still be scoring you on it!"

At his threat Nix rushed forward and threw a punch towards the side of Caroline's face, then another and then another after that, with each hit her block got worse and she ended up dropping it completely and tried to turn and run away from her but as she did Nix threw a kick out to the bottom of her legs and tripped her so she tumbled to the ground, landing on her front.

There were some whispers from the other initiates after that and Nix looked at them, most of the expressions were blank but others, the candor transfers, they were either sniggering or they had looks of disapproval on their faces but she didn't care what they thought and as much as she didn't want to care what he thought either she couldn't help glancing over at Eric, he was scowling with his jaw clenched where he was stood.

She turned her head back to look at Caroline who was still on the ground, she'd rolled over onto her back and was holding a side of her face that had a red mark from where she'd been hit, Nix whispered to her not to lie there and to get up but the girl shook her head then lightly rubbed her face with a grimace.

Nix made a 'really?' face at her when the girl looked up at her again, the punches really couldn't have hurt her that badly...they weren't even that hard.

"Please...don't." Caroline said, she was close to tears.

"Come on, get up!" Nix replied, this time in a much harsher whisper, "You have to."

Caroline continued to lay there for a beat longer before she attempted to push herself up and she groaned in a pained way as she did, Nix had to resist rolling her eyes and when she glanced at Andie where she was stood outside the ring she could tell that she was thinking the same thing...Caroline was melodramatic.

Nix had only punched her face a couple of times them tripped her up, she hadn't kicked the girl in the ribs like she seamed to be currently acting as if had happened.

"So many opportunities." Eric said loudly for everyone to hear, "And yet, you just stand there? Attack your opponent stiff!"

Nix didn't realise until after it that she'd taken her annoyance at Eric's voice out on Caroline, the second the girl had been back on her feet she threw a hard punch at her abdomen which caused her to immediately double over and when she did Nix then prepared to lift her knee up into her face but she hesitated when she heard the groan of pain come from Caroline.

She was already losing...it wouldn't be right to hurt her anymore, unless she was faking it and getting ready to pounce on her but Nix was pretty sure she wasn't...she hadn't even tried to retaliate in any way yet.

As she thought about this her knee started to lower and she stared down at the girl where she was hunched over begging Nix not to hurt her anymore.

"Do it." Eric's voice said and she looked up at him, he nodded his head, "If you don't both of you lose."

She stared at him for a beat then looked at Caroline holding her stomach and shaking her head but Nix didn't want to lose, she couldn't afford to.

She took a hold of the back of the girl's head and neck then brought her knee up hard into her face and that was it, she collapsed backwards onto the map unconscious.

Nix stared down at her open mouthed and saw a trickle of blood gradually coming from her nose, Four then stepped into the ring and knelt down beside her, he checked her over briefly before he put her arm around his shoulder then stood up and dragged her from the ring.

"That was an easy win, she didn't even try." Eric said to Nix but loud enough for everyone else to hear, "Take note...that's how NOT to fight."

Nix ignored him and watched Four place Caroline outside the ring where he then grabbed a jacket and placed it underneath her head before he stood up and moved back towards the ring, she made a move in his direction but Eric grabbed her forearm and stopped her, she looked up at him and saw he was glaring down at her, "Next time don't hesitate."

She stared at him before yanking her arm from his grasp and continuing towards Four, "Is she okay?"

"She'll be fine, it's not bad enough for her to go to the infirmary...good work." he replied and she looked at Caroline where she lay on the ground unmoving, it didn't feel like good work...Caroline was knocked out.

"Next fight is in a half hour, get on the bags or pair up and spar till then." Eric called out to the group then stepped out of the ring, everyone that was gathered around quickly moved off to do as they were instructed but Nix stayed where she was, staring at Caroline.

"That was great Nix." Andie said as she came up behind Nix and squeezed her shoulder, "I knew you had it in you."

"It sucked." Eric said before Nix could reply and she looked over at him with a scowl, he was stood just outside the ring watching them, "Neither of them tried."

"I DID try." Nix shot back with venom in her voice and Andie's mouth popped open.

"Nix...careful." Four said to her in a warning tone as he suddenly appeared beside the girls.

"Didn't look that way from where I was standing." Eric replied as he walked back into the ring and towards her until he was stood infront of her, "Next time you'll have a real opponent...I promise you that."

He glanced over at where Tom was and the boy was pounding furiously on one of the bags, Nix had followed his gaze then turned away the second she saw who it was.

"I beat her." she said as she looked up at him a beat later, ignoring his threat and he turned back to look at her and smirked.

"You only beat her because she gave up before she'd even stepped in the ring." he replied in a mocking tone.

"No, I beat her because I knocked her out." she snapped back.

"You beat her because she's weak!" he boomed at her and a silence seamed to fall over the entire room before he finished in a low and menacing voice, "Weak like you."

Arguing back with him was pointless and she didn't care anymore about the fact that he was a leader, she was sick of the way she was constantly treated by him and everyone else, dauntless training was hard enough...she'd had enough.

"Screw this." she said as she shoved passed him roughly so her elbow knocked into his arm and then she headed towards the doorway of the training room.

"Where do you think you're going initiate?!" he demanded from where he was still stood in the ring but she ignored him and continued walking then she broke into a run when she heard him shout her name.


	10. Chapter 10

***** DISCLAIMER ***  
**

 **I own NOTHING regarding the divergent series e.g. the books/the movies  
The only things I own are my own characters that I've created.**

* * *

As she ran Nix berated herself for being so stupid, talking back was a bad thing but talking back infront of her class then proceeding to walk out of training whilst defying her superior, that was worse.

She'd never been one for lacking good sense but since she'd joined dauntless she found herself making frequently mindless decisions...she was going to be in so much trouble for that.

Eventually she slowed to a walk then stopped after realising she had no idea where she was, she had gone down a few unfamiliar deserted corridors then up a few random sets of stairs that she'd come across, in the whole two weeks she'd been in dauntless she'd never went up that many stairs, nevertheless though, she'd kept going.

After rounding some more corners and going down never ending corridor after corridor she was eventually met by a much longer and wider corridor that had doors spaced out along it, that's when she had stopped.

She saw numbers on each of the doors and that's when it dawned on her that this must be where the dauntless apartments started and that confirmed she really was lost.

She looked around the dimly lit corridor for a moment before she sighed, she was too wound up and out of breath from running to even try and find her way back through the maze that she'd just come through in that moment, instead, she leaned against the wall next to one of the doors and found that although uncomfortable it was cool against the exposed skin of her arms, she slid down it slowly to her bottom and leaned her arms over her bent up knees before looking at the roof, she then began to inhale and exhale deep long breaths.

After a beat passed she looked down at her feet, she had been barefoot in training and still barefoot when she left, looking at her feet now she realised they were slightly red and were a little sore, consequences of a poor decision.

She sighed again then leaned her head back as what she'd said to Eric replayed over and over again through it, also the image of her walking out as he bellowed her name haunted her and she cringed at the memory and found herself saying aloud, "Why are you SO stupid Nix?"

"That's EXACTLY what I'd like to know!" a loud and angry voice replied.

She gasped and turned her head to see him marching down the corridor towards her with a murderous look on his face.

She shot up to standing as he approached her wondering as she did how he had even found her, she had taken off in a run the second she'd left the training room and he had still been in there.

The thought of how quickly he'd managed to find her was terrifying, more so now because she had nowhere to hide from him, not that she'd even have any chance of running from him now if she tried.

"You've got some nerve stiff." he told her and she began to speak but gasped with fright when he shoved her up against one of the doors with a hand around her throat, instinctively her own hands flew up and held tightly onto his wrist in an attempt to pry his hand away if he tried to choke her.

"You think you can just get away with a stunt like that?" he asked her as he moved his body more towards her, her breathing was suddenly heavy at the thought of what he might do to her although his hold on her neck wasn't tight, it was actually surprisingly loose.

She inhaled a deep breath as he suddenly leaned into her and pressed his forehead hard against her own, in a way that resembled two people getting ready to fight one another.

Before she dared to speak she closed her eyes briefly, "Eric, I'm sorry I...I was angry, you...you pushed my buttons."

Her final few words were a whisper and he huffed out what she thought might have been a laugh but she wasn't entirely sure, whatever it was it was gone as quick as it came and it unnerved her.

"Do you know where you are right now?" he asked her a beat later in a strangely calm voice for someone that was as mad as he seamed to be.

Her eyes slowly trailed up to his face and she found him staring hard at her with his jaw clenched, she shook her head lightly then felt him flex his fingers on her neck, she expected him to then squeeze and crush her windpipe but instead he leaned back a little so he was no longer invading her personal space, he then glanced at the door she was against before he reached into his pocket and produced a set of keys, he held them up infront of her face briefly before he then used them on the door to unlock it.

"This is my apartment." he told her in a low voice seconds before he pulled the door handle down, as her mind was processing that statement her body moved backwards with the door as it opened but he steadied her with a hand against her lower back before she could fall.

He then suddenly turned from her, yanked the keys from the door and slammed it so hard it hurt her ears.

She quickly took a few steps back from him then watched as he slowly turned back to face her and she was met with another glare when he did, she glanced down briefly whilst biting her lip and thinking about how inappropriate it was that she was in here with him, in his private accommodation.

She hesitantly glanced around the room to find that, what she could see, was mostly all dark, there was a kitchen area with a table and chairs to her left and to her right was a desk with a computer and next to it was a bookcase.

She swallowed as a thought suddenly came into her mind, if he murdered her in here...would anyone even know?

"I pushed your buttons did I?" he asked, interrupting her thoughts and she looked at him, noticing as she did that he was moving slowly towards her.

"Yes." she answered after inhaling deeply and she hoped she didn't sound or look as nervous as she felt.

"What I said was the truth." he replied and she let out a scoff as her anger had suddenly returned.

"The truth? That wasn't the truth, the truth was that I beat her, I TRIED to beat her and all you did was belittle me for it infront of everyone." she replied sharply.

He smiled at her and she was momentarily blinded by it, it was a nice smile, really nice in fact...his wide mouth was full of straight white teeth and even though she assumed he had intended it to be sinister it reached his eyes so it turned out as a genuine one, it made him even more attractive than she hated to admit that she thought he already was.

"You hesitated." he said as he took another step towards her, his smile now gone.

No longer distracted she rolled her eyes and replied, "You sprung it on us that we would be fighting each other and the pause, that was because she'd already lost."

"Every time you roll your eyes at me from now on I'm taking points from you." he told her and she frowned.

"Points?" she asked whilst thinking 'what?'.

"Five." he answered.

Her mouth opened slightly at the statement but she quickly recovered and said, "Five points...that seams a bit harsh does it not?"

"Ten when you make comments like that or whine." he replied and she gasped louder than she'd have liked.

"But I wasn't whining, that's un-" she began to say but stopped herself.

"Sorry stiff, didn't catch that...want to repeat it?" he said, his tone baiting.

"No...I have nothing to say." she said through gritted teeth and he smirked.

"Yeah I thought so...and just for the record, I would have had you all fighting on your second day of training...it's Four that didn't want that." he said with a scowl.

"Four didn't want that." she mused briefly then continued on without thinking and immediately wished she could rewind, "I thought with you being a leader you'd be the one making the decisions, not Four."

His scowl gradually changed to a sardonic smile before he said, "That remark just lost you fifteen points."

"Fifteen?!" she all but screeched at him.

"Another ten for whining about it." he replied and she let out a noise of irritation because she couldn't form any rational words to respond with, "And for that...another ten."

Her eyes widened at his concluding words and she had to suck in a deep breath because she was so mad, he watched her reaction with a smirk playing on his lips and that was it, that's what did it for her...she knew it was a bad decision, an EXTREMELY bad decision but she needed to get it out, she couldn't STOP it from escaping her lips.

"Fuck you." she replied with a glare and his eyes widened in astonishment.

She was slightly surprised at the choice of words herself as she'd never openly cursed aloud before and especially never AT anyone, her surprise didn't really linger long though as the reason for her saying it flashed in her mind and right on cue she narrowed her eyes at him as she decided in that moment that she couldn't care less about the cursing at him because he deserved it.

Time seamed to slow after that and a long moment passed before he did anything and what he did was move towards her, one foot at a time...each step seamed to pause longer than the previous and the way he was staring at her when he had finally stopped infront of her, so close that he was almost standing on her toes, should have made her cower in fear but she couldn't do that.

She stood her ground and didn't back down from him...she had to.

"Man you really are a pain in my ass." he eventually growled at her before he grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her roughly towards him.

His lips came crashing down on hers as soon as she was against his chest and she was so shocked by his actions that she froze on the spot, she was unable to move anything other than her eyes and they widened considerably the second his lips had touched hers.

Her heart began to pound furiously against the inside of her chest as the seconds ticked by and a million thoughts were suddenly running through her head, however, when his mouth started to move against hers that is when she was brought back to reality and able to form any type of movement.

Using all the strength that she could muster, she pushed him away from her then stared up at him open mouthed and afraid before backing away from him, thinking as she did...why on earth would he do this to her?


	11. Chapter 11

***** DISCLAIMER ***  
**

 **I own NOTHING regarding the divergent series e.g. the books/the movies  
The only things I own are my own characters that I've created.**

* * *

Why? The word she wanted to ask but every time she tried it wouldn't come out of her mouth.

Was this a new form of bullying from him? It couldn't be...even for a leader there has to be a line that can't be crossed, surely?!

Why would he do this to her?! Was it some sort of test in order to humiliate her further?

A blind man could see how much he loathed her so...why would he KISS her?

Her brain was suddenly working overtime as she tried to conjure up some type of rational explanation for it and as she did he closed the short distance that was now between them and placed both of his hands on her face, she gasped when he started to lean his head towards her.

She couldn't believe it...he was going to do it again!

Rather than being afraid of his actions and the reason for them she was now angry and made a heat of the moment decision to vent that anger, she leaned back and slapped him across the face...right as his lips were about to touch hers.

She stared at his face which was now turned to the side, she didn't hit him that hard, even though, she did attempt to.

No, his head only moved due to the surprise of it, she knew he was surprised because a very brief sinister grin had appeared after her palm had connected with his cheek...a cheek that was now beginning to redden.

A long silent moment passed by after that, his head still turned to the side the entire time before he then gradually straightened up to his full height.

She swallowed when his head slowly turned back to face her and as it did there was a glare on it.

"That serves you right." she said after a beat, trying to make it sound like a threat but despite being angry, she was nervous about how he would react.

He didn't react, he continued to glare at her where he stood.

Feeling more uneasy than before she took another step backwards towards the door and then said in a hesitant voice, "I'm leaving."

When he didn't react or respond to her in any way she turned her back to him and began to head towards the door but before she could even begin to properly move he appeared infront of her and blocked her path.

She gasped at the fact she hadn't even heard him move and at how fast he did it, she then started to step back but he wrapped an arm around her body and pulled her towards him, when she was pressed against his front his other arm then wrapped around her shoulders.

He didn't say anything, he just shook his head then pressed his lips against hers again, the second his mouth was on hers she began to push against him to get free, however, this time he was prepared for it rather than caught off guard and he used his taller and heavier frame as an advantage.

With each passing second she was becoming more and more furious and she refused to stop protesting his advances.

"Dammit! Will you stop fighting me?!" he said against her mouth.

His words only made her more mad at him, since the first day she'd met him he'd been practically fighting her, that thought and the fact that he'd kissed her not once...but TWICE now irritated her, not only was it totally inappropriate of him to do so but he'd also way overstepped his bounds as her instructor and leader.

How would she be able to interact with him again? With the memory of this situation hanging over her it would make it impossible!

She balled one of her hands into a fist and raised it to his exposed flank, she then used it to hit him in the side.

She would have attempted to hit him in the chest but it was impossible due to the way he had a hold of her, she pulled her hand back then hit him in the side again but it was harder than the previous attempt, despite this though she was pretty sure it would only tickle him rather than hurt.

When she tried to hit him again he shook his head and spun them both around, he began to back her towards the door and in a desperate attempt to stop him she hit him again.

"Stop that Nix." he removed his lips from hers long enough to say before they were once more attached to her mouth, she did try to avoid it but he seamed to know what she was thinking.

When she felt her back touch the door a beat later she tried again to pull her mouth away but the arm he had around her shoulders moved so he could curl his hand around the back of her neck and it held her head firmly in place so she could no longer move it.

No matter how hard she struggled in his hold she found it was impossible to escape from, so, she tried the only thing she hadn't yet...she pressed her teeth down hard and bit his lip.

Whilst cursing he swiftly released her and she waisted no time in turning to make her escape but as soon as she had moved his large arms trapped her in his hold once more, with her back against his chest and her arms pinned at her sides she immediately started to thrash around but when his lips were suddenly against her ear...she froze.

His voice was a whisper...a pleading whisper, "Don't walk away from me...I don't have it in me to resist you anymore."

Shocked at his words and what her implication of what he meant by them, she gasped and spun around to face him, "Are you accusing me of-"

He cut off her words when he grabbed her under the arms then all but flung her upwards, a noise of disbelief and fright left her mouth before he wrapped his arms tightly around her body followed by crushing his lips hard against hers.

She got a taste of the metallic tang of blood from where she had bitten him before she tried to push herself back from him but any attempt she made was thwarted by the strength he had against her, one of his hands then grabbed her behind the knee and he yanked her leg up so it was hooked around his hip.

She gasped in surprise at the sudden movement and he took advantage of her open mouth to deepen the kiss and as soon as he did she suddenly became aware of how warm his mouth was and although they had initially felt rough...all she could think of now was how soft the caress of his lips against her own were.

Seconds ticked by and with them a warmth began to quickly spread through her body which, in that moment, was all she could focus on, she hadn't even noticed that she had lifted her other leg up so it too was now wrapped around his waist, she only became aware of it when his hold on her began to loosen.

One strong arm was wrapped around her lower back and the fingers of his other hand slowly ran up her spine to the back of her head.

'It's for support' were the words that were now repeating over and over in her head because she would never, NEVER, have blatantly just wrapped her leg around his waist...not anyone's waist for that matter and not even as a last resort if she had the choice would she have chosen HIS.

This man had since day one went out of his way to antagonise her, making it clear for all to see that he hated her, he was always cruel and unpleasant towards her.

Except for however, that time when he gave her half of his dessert in the dining hall or when he told her that he liked her haircut and unless she was mistaken...he had meant that compliment, not to forget either when he told her about the store that sold bathing suits so she could shower without having to be naked infront of everyone and that was after he reprimanded her for questioning it.  
She suddenly became infuriated as the thoughts ran through her head, did he have some sort of split personality? She was beginning to believe it regarding all the mood swings he'd subjected her to.

How dare he do this to her!

A kiss was a lovely and intimate thing usually shared by two people that are fond of each other and Eric had made it clear to her and everyone else that he wasn't fond of her in the slightest.

"This damn haircut." he pulled his lips from hers to say with a voice that was laced with appreciation before his mouth was greedily attaching itself onto hers once more.

The way he had spoken seamed to stir something within her, her thoughts of the way he had acted with her since she'd arrived in the faction were no longer in her head, she was now only thinking about those words he'd just said and they made her feel...giddy, to hear him sound so breathless as he spoke before he then proceeded to what could only really be described as consuming her, the whole thing...especially the way he'd just spoken also made her feel self-centred but she didn't feel ashamed because of it, not like she would have done.

She was actually surprised to find that her self control had been gradually slipping away without her being aware of it, she had been too preoccupied with her thoughts to notice but she was aware of it now and what she was also aware of was that she was no longer fighting him...she was openly kissing him back.

As quick as the flick of a switch their lips moved in perfect sync, her hands then began to instinctively shift, one of them wrapped around the back of his neck and the other held onto his large biceps, the hand she held his neck with gradually moved up his shaved head until she had a tight grip of the hair that was on top of it.

He made a noise deep in his throat at her actions and then squeezed her in his arms towards him even though they were already as close as could be, he then deepened the kiss even more, so much so that she wasn't aware whose air she was actually breathing at that point.

She wasn't aware either that he had been moving with her until she was set down on something hard and he removed his lips from her, she noticed before he moved both his hands to the sides of her head to tilt her head back a little that he'd moved across the room from the front door.

She was happy to find that she could breathe again even though it was only slightly, he'd placed his mouth against her throat to pepper light and barely there kisses and the feel of it on her skin felt just as good if not better as it did against her own mouth.

She closed her eyes at the feeling then found herself breathing out his name and as she did a smile appeared on her face but it didn't linger long as the thought of her smiling just at the mention of his name flashed in her mind and it screamed 'abnormal' at her.

Her eyes suddenly popped open the more she thought about it and then her mouth was moving on it's own, "I shouldn't be here."

Eric's only response to that was a noise of amusement and he continued what he was doing.

"I'm supposed to be at training." she added after a beat.

"You walked out." he replied instantaneously with his mouth still kissing and nipping her neck.

"And you followed me...to bring me back." she said before she placed her hands on his face and gently pulled, he allowed her to lift his head and when their eyes met he frowned.

"I followed you to teach you a lesson." he replied as his mouth moved towards hers again but she dodged it.

"Teach me a lesson? How?" she asked nervously after swallowing and he shrugged.

"Thought about dangling you over the chasm." he said and she sat forward at his words and pressed her hands against his chest to prevent him from leaning in again.

"Over the chasm." she repeated in a shocked voice before anxiously asking, "You're not serious right? You wouldn't really do that...right?"

"I'm deadly serious." he replied and leaned in again but again she dodged him and shoved herself back on what she realised was a kitchen counter, "Where do you think you're going?"

His hands gripped her waist and he pulled her back towards him where he wedged himself between her legs, he then wrapped his arms around her body so they were literally nose to nose.

"You ignored that question before, don't do it again." he told her in a low voice and then he planted a long kiss on her lips and she was momentarily distracted by it but when she moved her hands to place them gently upon his face she was once again aware of where she was.

She pulled back from him and gasped quietly as their lips disconnected, she kept her eyes downcast and stayed that way until she felt him gently touch her forehead with his own.

When she glanced up at him she found he was watching her, she waited a beat then moved her head back and asked, "What's happening here?"

"I know you were born in abnegation but surely you don't need me to explain." he replied in a slightly teasing tone and that amused her...who knew Eric was capable of having a teasing side to him.

A brief moment passed before her head properly processed what he'd said to her and her amusement died away, she whispered a sad 'no' in response to his question which made him frown but she quickly continued, "What I meant was...look at us, US...that's me and YOU."

"I'm aware of what the word us means." he replied dryly.

"ME as in the stiff." She said, ignoring his response and she deliberately emphasised the word 'stiff', "You're my instructor and I'm your initiate...you're a dauntless leader!"

"Right now, none of that matters." he replied as he tenderly, a word that she would never have thought to associate with him, EVER, tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear before he cupped the back of her neck in his bearlike hand and stared at her.

"You hate me." she eventually breathed out after what felt like a lifetime with her eyes downcast.

"No." his reply was so quiet that she was convinced he'd not actually said it, that it was her mind playing tricks on her but it wasn't, the word was genuine.

She glanced back up to find him staring intently at her and she suddenly felt a sense of relief as she replayed his statement in her head, she hadn't realised until now that the thought of him hating her mattered so much to her, she bit her lip to hide the smile that was now trying to form on her lips.

"Don't do that." he told her with a firm shake of his head and her brows pulled together slightly as her teeth released her lip, she was about to ask him what he meant when he continued, "I don't think I've ever seen you smile before...I like it."

At his words a blush started to form on her cheeks, she wasn't sure if it was because of the compliment or purely because she had finally done something that seamed to please him rather than disappoint.

He grinned at her reaction before he slowly ducked his head and captured her lips with his own...ever so gently.

They stayed that way for a moment with their lips pressed together and their hands holding one another, his on her lower back and the back of her neck, hers curled around the back of his neck and against his face.

When they parted, they parted together and she let out an almost inaudible sigh as he stared at her, she then said with a reluctant tone, "I can't stay here...I have to get back to the training room."

A very long moment of silence passed before he inhaled then exhaled a deep sigh and replied, "Yeah...I know."

She offered him a half hearted smile in response then began to move to the side of where she was sat, he stepped back so she could hop down from the counter and once she was on her feet she turned to look at him and saw that he had kept his back to her the whole time.

Being no longer attached to him made her suddenly feel very awkward, the fact that he wasn't even looking at her either made it worse, she tried a few times to speak but couldn't find the words to say.

"I thought you were leaving?" he asked her after a moment had passed, his back was still to her and she noticed that he'd spoken in a clipped tone.

"Yes." she replied quickly and made a move for the door but stopped before she reached it and looked back at him, he had turned his head to the side and was watching her, when they made eye contact though he faced forward again, she swallowed before she continued speaking, "What happened back there I...what I did...I'm sorry that I stormed off."

She saw him sigh then look down at the counter briefly before he then turned to look at her and when he did he stared at her for what felt like the longest time until he finally said, "I'm not."

She stared back at him and gasped silently when he turned and headed towards her but she held a palm up and he immediately halted in his tracks.

"This was a mistake." she blurted out and a brief frown appeared on his face before it turned into a glare, "I have to go."

"Go then." he replied in an abrupt tone, "Go on...git."

Her brows pulled together slightly at his words as she thought, why was he being like this? He had agreed himself she should leave only moments ago, "Eric I-"

"Get out!" he suddenly shouted at her and she gasped in fright, a beat then passed before she attempted to speak but before she could he shook his head then marched towards her, he grabbed her upper arm when he reached her and growled in her face, "Are you deaf?! I said, get the hell out!"

She barely managed to react before he began to shove her towards the door of his apartment, when he reached it he yanked it open so hard that she was surprised he didn't rip it off the hinges, he then literally...threw her out.

She had to put her hands out to break her fall and when she landed on the ground she let out a wince, a beat passed before she dared to look up at him and when she did she could have sworn that she saw him move to help her but stopped himself and instead glared down at her.

"You better be gone when I open this door again." he barked at her before he entered his apartment and slammed the door behind him.

She sat where she was and stared up at the now closed door with tears stinging her eyes thinking...what just happened?


	12. Chapter 12

***** DISCLAIMER ***  
**

 **I own NOTHING regarding the divergent series e.g. the books/the movies  
The only things I own are my own characters that I've created.**

I finally updated!  
Sorry it's took so long guys, I've been so busy for so long with college work.

Hope you enjoy this chapter, I'll try and keep regularly updating.

* * *

Inside the ring of the training room there were two boys currently involved in a fight and the other initiates were gathered around it watching, also on the sidelines observing were Adam and Four.

Nix watched from afar, from where she stood just behind the edge of the entrance to the room.

At least two minutes had passed since she'd arrived at the doorway but she couldn't bring herself to go inside just yet as her encounter with Eric was still bothering her...he had thrown her out, literally, thrown her out.

She could still feel his fingers from where they had roughly grabbed and dug into the skin of her arm as he pulled her towards the doorway of his apartment.

She looked down at her arm and saw the fingermarks that he'd left behind, they weren't as visible as they had been but they were still there.

As she looked at the marks on her arm the reason for them being there began to play out in her head and then it replayed and replayed again, she thought back on the whole thing too...running off, him finding her, standing in his apartment, what they said to each other...the kiss.

The kiss.

That damn kiss.

Her eyes closed briefly as every detail of it replayed in her head, it had been her first...well not her first but it was her first proper one, one that she'd actually wanted...despite the fact she'd been mad and confused about it and trying to push him away when it first happened, she couldn't deny that she had wanted it.

She probably would have let it continue if the fact that it was him hadn't been running through her head at the time, him, him who is not just anyone...he's one of the leaders.

The whole thing just seamed ridiculous to her, she's a stiff and an initiate...and he's a LEADER.

Despite how nice the memory of their kiss was for her she began to realise that the more she thought about it, the more confused she became.

How he could be so...was tender the right word? How could he treat her in such a tender way one minute and the next be so horrible?

She felt hurt.

The way he had treated her since she transferred made her feel hatred towards him, she'd grown up being taught to think of others above herself and hatred wasn't something she'd ever thought she'd feel towards another person.

She had though, before she transferred but that was worse than hatred...that was MORE than hatred.

She'd LOATHED him.  
She shook her head to rid herself of that time in abnegation and thought once more about Eric, he'd gone out of his way to single her out over everyone else in her class, he'd treated her the worst from the start and it upset her, it wasn't fair.

It had made her dislike him more and more but then...he had moments where he wasn't being mean or horrible to her and that made her head spin, she'd questioned whether she really could say she hated him or not.  
It was those little things he'd done, when he had halved his food with her or when he'd showed her the combat defence position before training began which kind of acted like a warning in some way, those things weren't anything to get excited over as they were insignificant but the fact that he'd done them had been surprising and really made her think...was she exaggerating when she though of him and hatred together?

Whatever the reason however she knew now that it wasn't the case, if she'd really hated him then she wouldn't have allowed what happened inside his apartment to happen, it hadn't taken her long at all to reciprocate to him.

If Eric had been HIM...there was no question about it, she would have been screaming at the top of her lungs and fighting with everything she had to get out of there, all because she HATED him.

But Eric.

No...she didn't hate him, especially not after that kiss...she couldn't, the memory of it would forever be burned into her brain.

She looked at the fingermarks on her arm again and let out a sigh, why had he done it?

Why had he thrown her out and spoken to her in such a cruel way when only moments before he had been holding her as if she was made of glass?

She placed a hand on her forehead, gave it a rub then ran it through her loosened hair briefly, the whole thing along with trying to figure him out had given her a headache, with another sigh she pulled her hair loose from it's ponytail then quickly redid it.

Once her hair was sorted her thoughts once more drifted to Eric and she frowned, had he thrown her out because she was leaving? Because he wasn't getting...what he wanted?

Had he even wanted it?

The thought worried her, he didn't hate her like she thought...or so he said, he could have been tricking her, telling her what she wanted to hear.

Did she want to hear that though? She couldn't deny that her stomach had fluttered when he'd disagreed to it, it was as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

Whether he was tricking her or not he'd liked her enough to kiss her, he wouldn't have done that if he hadn't wanted to...right?

He might have just done it purely because...he felt the need to, she was there, she was a female...she was available to him.  
She knew that men became frustrated when it came to...that.

 _Tease._

 _Luring goody-goody._

 _Sweet talker._

 _Intriguing._

No.

Eric was different.

Eric didn't say those things to her, she hadn't broken out in a cold sweat around him, her skin hadn't crawled when he'd touched her.

She didn't feel frightened about wanting to leave him, he never made her feel like she wasn't allowed to go.

He had to have thrown her out of his place for some other reason...at least she hoped that was the case.

"Nix!" Andie's voice whispered shouted and she was suddenly brought out of her daydream, she glanced over at the ring briefly to see that the fight had finished and the other initiates except for the fighters were all heading back to training on the bags or sparring with each other, the fighters in the ring were sat on the ground listening to what Adman was crouched down saying to them, she looked back at Andie who was walking quickly towards her.

"What were you thinking?!" the former amity girl demanded and Nix started to speak but was cut off, "Where did you go?"

"I just needed." Nix said as she walked into the training room and towards the punching bags, she then let out a sigh, "To get away for a bit."

The other initiates in the room gradually began to notice her return, most had stopped what they were doing and were openly whispering with each other about her.

"You walked out...on Eric!" Andie said wide eyed as they approached a free punching bag, she had been stuck to Nix's side since she re-entered the training room and at her mention of his name Nix felt a pang in her stomach and she really hoped that she didn't look as upset as she hated to admit she was feeling, she simply shrugged then began to punch the bag and Andie shook her head before she said, "To be frank Nix, I'm scared for you, what if he kicks you out for that? Or worse...what if he kills you?"

"I'm not scared of Eric." she replied a little too quickly and the statement made her halt her punches, she stared at the spot on the bag where her fist had just been connecting and thought about what she'd just said.

'I'm not scared of Eric'...words that she never thought she would ever say aloud as she assumed that it would imply to the other initiates when they teased her about it that she actually was, some of them would have probably run to him and told him what she'd said and he'd in turn probably publicly humiliate her for having the nerve to say that.  
She never imagined she'd say those words without hesitation like she'd just done as before today...since day one really, he had frightened her, really...who did he not frighten?

He was a very intimidating man, however, he'd allowed her to see another side to him today...a side that now made her chest hurt to think about and knowing that that side of his personality existed...she could never be scared of him again.

Despite him throwing her out the way he had she was almost certain that he would never deliberately physically hurt her, he had treated her too gently when she was alone with him for her to imagine ever being hurt by or scared of him again.

What she also knew was that she'd probably never see that side of him again and that thought, she was surprised to admit, was extremely disappointing.

"You're back." a voice said from behind her, it was Four, she hadn't seen him when she'd come back into the room as he'd disappeared from the ring, he moved around to stand beside her and when he did he looked her up and down, "You managed to avoid Eric?"

"He came after me?" she asked a beat later then swallowed as she fought against the blush that was threatening to appear on her cheeks at her words.

"Yeah!" Andie replied, "He left about a minute after you did and boy, he did not look happy at all."

"You realise you're in deep trouble with him don't you?" Four asked her and she stared at the bag infront of her briefly before she nodded, "It's out of my hands, whatever punishment he gives you for this I won't be able to intervene...he doesn't tolerate disobedience."

"I understand." she replied and he nodded at her.

"Will he kick her out?" Andie asked him.

"That's a bit dramatic." he replied.

"You said he doesn't like disobedience." Andie stated.

"That's true but he's more likely to make her suffer for the remainder of training because of it." he said to Andie then he glanced at Nix, "More than normally that is."

Nix gave him a weak smile before Andie asked, "Suffer how?"

"Keep practising." he said to her, ignoring Andie's question and then he walked away toward someone else, Andie watched him go before she turned to Nix and made a face because he didn't answer, she then went back to punching her own bag.

"Did it really look like I wasn't trying to fight?" Nix asked Andie after a moment passed, she had looked briefly over her shoulder and saw Caroline sparring with another girl, from what she could see there were a few marks on the girls face and arms but she seamed more than okay.

"No." Andie replied, "I mean...you probably could have used a little more force on her but you did try, there's no denying that, don't listen to what Eric said...you won that fight fair and square."

"Start running laps." A voice that didn't belong to Four suddenly called out to everyone and Nix's movements stilled, she didn't need to turn around to see who the owner of that voice was...she already knew, "Don't stop until I say."

Andie and the other transfers stopped what they were doing and looked over at him and as they did gasps from some nearby transfers could be heard.

"Oh no." Andie whispered and took a hold of Nix's arm, "Come on, let's get going."

Nix didn't move, she looked over her shoulder and immediately her eyes met Eric's, she noticed that Four had walked towards him and was stood infront of him saying something but the whole time his eyes were on her where she stood across the room beside Andie.

Tom and the rest of his candor friends hadn't joined in with the other initiates that had started running, they were stood in a group with smirks on their faces looking back and forth between her and their leader.

The more she stared at him the more she felt her heartbeat pick up as the memory of being inside his apartment with him began to play in her head again, the way he touched her...the way he kissed her.

"Nix." Andie whispered and started to move a few steps away, "Let's go."

Having had her thoughts interrupted Nix fully turned around and glanced at her friend then looked at him again, he was still staring at her and Four had turned around to look at her also before he spoke again and whatever he said grabbed Eric attention, the leader's glare was no longer focused on her but on Four instead.

"Nix please." Andie urged her some more so Nix started to jog off, the former amity by her side as she did, "Let's just do as we're told and stay out of his way."

"We still have to run past him." Nix replied, it was a statement more for herself than it was for Andie.

"Keep your eyes on his feet incase he tries to trip you." Andie told her after making a groaning noise.

"Trip me? I doubt he'd do that." Nix said with a grin which disappeared when she glanced at her friend to see that she didn't find it amusing, the thought of Eric childishly sticking his foot out as she ran past just sounded absurd.

"Just be careful Nix, he looks like he wants to kill you." Andie said and this time Nix simply nodded.

It was hard to focus on running knowing that Eric's eyes were on her as it caused a feeling of unease to wash over her, she wasn't sure why...maybe it was the anticipation that he'd do something to her infront of the others to keep up appearances that he was mad.

Or maybe it was because she feared that he actually was mad, she couldn't tell.

She shook her head and attempted to ignore his presence, gradually it worked as she she managed to set herself an easy pace as she and Andie had almost completed their first full lap.

She and Andie both jumped a little when Eric barked at the candor transfers to get moving as none of them had started yet and not surprisingly due to the tone of the command, none of them protested.

Andie moved when she and Nix were on the straight to pass Eric and Four where they were stood, she moved so she was on the side closest to Eric and Nix had wanted to tell her that she didn't need to do that but instead she concentrated on her breathing.

No matter how hard Nix tried to focus on what was infront of her she found her eyes still being drawn to Eric who she found was watching her like a hawk, his eyes narrowed in a glare as she passed and Nix could tell that Andie was more nervous about that than herself.

They both passed him without hassle, he didn't do anything.

"Man that was intense!" Andie said once they were out of his earshot, Nix didn't reply she just kept her eyes on where she was going and eventually they passed by some of the other transfers and as they did they were suddenly joined by some of the candor transfers.

"Hey stiff shouldn't you be further ahead right now? I mean you've already managed to outrun Eric once today and you made it back without him catching you." Tom said as he ran beside her and he moved closer so their arms were brushing each others as they moved.

"Go away." Andie said as both she and Nix simultaneously picked up the speed to get away from the candor's but they sped up so they were once again running at their sides.

"Aren't you worried? I mean...he looks as if he wants to murder you." Tom said, amusement evident in his voice, "I'd watch my back if I were you."

"You're warning me? Really? Is it because you're concerned or because you're hoping to witness it?" Nix said as she picked up her pace some more, running ahead of Andie and the candor transfers, Tom was the only one that caught up with her and he let out a laugh as he did.

She was on the straight now, about to pass Eric and Four again and again they were both watching her coming around, Four looked slightly apprehensive as his gaze shifted between her and Eric, Eric's eyes were glued to her and she noted that he looked even more furious at her this time.

"Believe me I'd love to watch and I'd grin whilst I was doing it." Tom replied once they'd passed by their instructors, he'd leaned his head close towards her so his mouth was at her ear as he spoke and once he had he stuck his tongue out and licked it.

She immediately elbowed him away from her in disgust and turned her head to look at him, he had a smirk on his face, she faced forward again and pushed herself on so she was almost sprinting away from him but he followed her, matching her pace.

"I'd actually offer to help him." he said when he was once more at her side, she chose to ignore him but when he reached around her back and ran his hand around her waist she stopped dead which caused him to bump into her and before he'd managed to steady himself she shoved him away from her.

"Keep your hands off me." she snapped at him as he almost tripped.

Most of the other initiates were still running and Andie and the other candor transfers were just passing Eric and Four on their second lap but they saw it, they along with Andie slowed down then eventually stopped to watch which swiftly earned them an order to keep moving, they did but they kept their pace slow and kept looking over at where Tom and Nix were.

Tom smirked at her again then took a step towards her, he was trying to frighten her and the fact that he was taller than her was slightly intimidating but Eric was taller and bigger built than he was, if she could stand up to that man then she could do it to this guy.

She stood her ground and looked up at him as he inched closer, his smirk turned into a leer and then he reached a hand out and began to run it up her flank, immediately she shoved it away and he glared at her.

"I said...keep your hands off me." she said firmly and when she made a move to run again he grabbed her forearm and twisted, she gasped in surprise more than pain.

"You think I want to touch you?" he asked, practically spitting the last word at her as if it was something disgusting.

She narrowed her eyes at him then yanked her arm back without giving him an answer, she then took off running again, making sure to go fast so she didn't have to be near him but he swiftly caught up to her, thankfully though, he kept his mouth shut.

She was about to complete her third lap by almost running past Four and Eric when Tom shoved her hard in the side, a noise left her throat as she fell head first over a bench, her shin had smashed hard against it and caused her to flip over and land on her back.

She let out a loud gasp when her body hit the concrete floor of the training room, she just made out Andie shouting at Tom before she inhaled deeply then coughed.

Four's face suddenly appeared above her own, "You alright Nix?"

"What the hell?!" Andie said angrily to Four as she appeared at Nix's side.

"What is it amity?" Eric demanded before Four could say anything and Nix noticed him roll his eyes before exhaling deeply.

"I'm fine." Nix said and accepted both of his hands that he offered her, he pulled her up onto her feet and she thanked him.

"Is your back okay?" Andie asked her as she went to touch it, it was a little tender but wasn't too bad, her shin hitting the hard bench seamed to hurt more.

"It's fine." she replied and Andie nodded before she looked at Eric once more, he had his arms crossed over his chest and he was glaring.

"He deliberately tripped her up." Andie replied hesitantly, her anger seamed to have rapidly disappeared.

Nix rubbed her back then glanced at Eric who had turned his gaze on her and she watched as he ran his eyes up and down her body slowly before he said, "All I saw was the stiff being clumsy."

At his words Nix scoffed under her breath then looked down for a brief moment before she glanced at Andie just as Eric said, "You don't agree?"

Nix looked at him and he raised his brows at her questioningly, she opened her mouth to speak then closed it before she shook her head lightly and looked at Andie again.

"I asked you a question." Eric said firmly and Nix looked back at him.

There was a beat of silence before Four cleared his throat, Eric looked at him as he said to the girls, "Get moving Andie, Nix...if you need it you have a minute."

"Stiff." Eric said and Nix sighed before she looked at him, he was still waiting for her answer but he turned his attention to Andie, "Why are you still here?"

Andie frowned at what he said and looked at Nix who gave her a light defeated shrug and indicated for her to go, she gave a reluctant nod then began to move after Nix mouthed 'it's fine' to her.

As she was passing her she whispered, "You'll be able to catch me up."

Nix nodded and watched as she ran off before she looked at Eric once more and she found his eyes on her, still waiting for her response, she inhaled deeply then said to him, "No."

"No?" he asked with wide eyes then held his hands out, "Well enlighten me stiff, if that wasn't clumsiness then what was it? Was it...just a mistake?"

Nix's eyes narrowed briefly at the question then realisation suddenly hit her, he'd deliberately emphasised the word 'mistake'.

Now she understood.

She closed her eyes for a beat then opened them as she exhaled a deep breath, Eric was glaring at her again and he indicated with his head that he expected her to answer him, she didn't, instead she held his gaze for a long moment then looked at Four who had moved to stand at Eric's side again, he glanced between the two of them curiously before he looked back at the other initiates running.

Nix looked back at Eric and noticed that his jaw was firmly clenched along with his fists, she then finally whispered her response to him, "No...it wasn't a mistake."

Her answer seamed to anger him more as he inhaled deeply then folded his arms across his chest tightly, she noted Four glance at him then her before he looked once more at the initiates running and when he did she saw him roll his eyes.

She followed his gaze and when she saw Tom about to complete his fourth lap she narrowed her eyes at him and said to both him and Eric, "He shoved me...it was no accident, he did it on purpose."

Four acknowledged her with a brief glance in her direction but Eric, even though he heard her, ignored her.

She looked from Eric to Tom once more and she inhaled as she watched him then let out a deep exhale as she thought to herself, let it go...just let it go, letting it go was the mature thing to do, however, as the boy got nearer to where she was stood he lifted his hand and flipped her off with a smirk.

Nope.

Screw being mature.

She moved to pick up a full bottle of water from inside the cooler next to the bench that she'd tripped over then pulled her arm back and threw it at his retreating form.

She heard Four say her name in what should have been a chastising way but he'd let out a sigh which told her he wasn't too concerned by it, not that it would have stopped her if he was.

She smirked when the bottle bounced off of the back of Tom's head and he let out a loud yell as he lost his balance and tumble forward to land roughly on his stomach.

Some of the other transfers that witnessed it let out chuckles, among them was Andie whose very loud and amused laugh echoed throughout the training room, Nix bit her lip when she felt a laugh of her own bubbling in her throat and looked over at Four and Eric to see them both trying to hide their smiles.

Both.

They BOTH were trying not to laugh.

Four's smile faded pretty quickly as he looked over his shoulder at Tom where he lay on the ground but Eric's didn't, he followed it up by giving her a subtle nod before he too looked at Tom, the boy had just gotten up from the ground and when he did his eyes zeroed in on Nix.

"Bitch." he said loudly and she responded by smiling sweetly in a way that said 'Who? Me?' then flipped him off, he began to march towards her saying as he did, "You think that's funny?"

"I thought it was hilarious." Andie said as she was passing, still laughing, she also reached out to high five Nix who happily returned it.

"Shut up." Tom barked at her then a beat later he reached Nix and shoved her backwards, because she hadn't been expecting it she stumbled a little.

"Hey, get moving." Four said but the boy ignored him and stepped towards her some more so he was right infront of her.

"You won't get away with that." he told her in a low voice, "Remember...I know where you sleep."

Her eyes almost widened at his threat but instead she swallowed then crossed her arms over her chest, hoping to look unaffected by it, "That was only a bottle and I nailed you with it...you should really think twice before threatening me again or I might just demonstrate to you personally how good I am at throwing knifes."

She didn't like speaking in such an arrogant way in regards to her training but she was good, everyone was always complimenting her on her knife throwing and asking her for tips and she had to stand up to him, she couldn't let him think she was scared of him.

He stared down at her for a long moment before a smirk appeared on his face and then both of his hands shot forward to grab her roughly between the legs and by the ponytail, a gasp of fright died away in her throat when he pulled her forwards and pressed his lips to her ear, "You really think that scares me stiff?"

She tried to push him away from her but the grip he had of her hair disappeared and he moved his arm around her back so she was trapped against him.

An involuntary whimper left her lips when he started to move the hand between her legs around, "I'd have you before you could even react."

The initial shock of him trying to interfere with her had terrified her but it also angered her, once he'd finished speaking she clenched her fist ready to throw a punch at him but before she was able Eric had grabbed him by the shoulders, yanked him back from her and stepped between them.

All at once she felt irritated at not being able to hit the horrible boy for his indecent actions but also relieved that Eric had stopped him from further violating her.

"You heard Four." he said and there was anger in his voice, it was clear for anyone to hear.

A beat passed before she peaked her head around the side of his body to see Tom begin to head off but before he could Eric halted him by saying, "And if you ever do anything like what you just did again...your ass will be out of dauntless, Effective immediately."

"What the hell man?! It's the stiff, what do you care-" Tom began to reply but stopped mid sentence when Eric took a step towards him, he then backed away and swiftly began running his laps again, he must have received an extremely sour look to not finish what he was saying.

Another beat passed before Eric moved back a step then turned around to face her and when he did she was very aware of how close they were, she could touch him if she wanted to and in that moment she really wanted to, she wanted to wrap her arms around him and hold on tight.

Tom doing what he did caused her heartbeat to pick up and her throat go dry, a shiver had come across her body too.

She swallowed then looked up at him and, it helped, the fear she felt was gradually disappearing just looking at him.

He stepped in and prevented Tom from harming her, in WHATEVER way he'd been planning to, she didn't feel frightened when he was near.

The memory of being in his apartment started to flash through her mind again and she inhaled deeply as she imagined reaching up and pulling his face towards hers so she could smash her lips against his to show him just how grateful she was for his help.

He tilted his head to the side a little as she stared at him and as if reading her mind the angry expression on his face gradually turned into a grin.

"You okay Nix?" Four asked as he suddenly appeared at her side and she immediately stepped back from Eric.

"Yeah, I'm fine." she replied after a beat and gave him a nod.

"Did he...try to touch you?" Four asked as he glanced down, he then shook his head and looked at her face again with a glare on his.

"He succeeded." Eric answered for her and she noticed Four's glare turn into surprise at Eric's tone but it didn't last long his expression changed to a determined one.

"He'll be punished for that." he told her.

"Keep him running today and after he drops or is sick, he will continue." Eric said to him before he'd even finished speaking.

"He's to keep running until lunch?" Four asked after a beat.

"He won't behaving lunch or taking part in weapons handling after it, he'll be running through both." Eric stated matter of factly and looked back at Nix, she looked up at him and the urge to reach for him was stronger than before.

"You're going to have him miss a day of training to run?" Four asked and Nix saw Eric roll his eyes before he turned his head to look at Four.

"I just said so didn't I?" he demanded before he added, "And he won't just be missing training, he will be running until his curfew."

"Until his curfew." Four repeated after a beat, "You expect him to run all day?"

"He WILL run all day, you'll will be here to supervise." Eric replied as he looked back at Nix, she found herself biting her lip and she noticed his eyes move to look at her mouth briefly before he made eye contact with her again, "That's his punishment."

Four sighed beside them then spoke to Nix, "Are you ready to run again?"

Nix looked at him then released her lip from her teeth and said, "Yes."

"Get going." he replied and she gave Eric one last glance before she took off running once more, she felt his eyes follow her the entire way.


	13. Chapter 13

***** DISCLAIMER ***  
**

 **I own NOTHING regarding the divergent series e.g. the books/the movies  
The only things I own are my own characters that I've created.**

I'm so sorry for the delay in uploading this chapter, I hope everyone is still interested in the story, I've been very busy working on my degree and any free moment I've had has been dedicated to that.  
I'm hoping to get back into uploading frequently again for you all but I won't make any promises on that, however I will try my hardest.

Sorry again guys.  
xo

* * *

After the incident with Tom that morning Eric had kept the group running for almost an hour, he'd looked at each initiate as they passed him but never let his attention linger on any one person for longer than necessary, Four who was stood beside him would give them the occasional 'well done' or 'keep it going', there was a 'pace yourself' thrown at a few individuals' more than once too.

Once Eric had told them to stop he went on to instruct another two initiates to fight in ring, it had been between two girls from candor and erudite, the rest of the group stood around and watched as they slapped, kicked and punched one another.

The fight had gotten more and more vicious as it progress and it ended with the erudite transfer receiving a dislocated shoulder, some of the other candor transfers sent jibes Nix's way about the fight she'd had with Caroline and that it had been pathetic compared to this one, Andie had flipped them off in response.

As the injured transfer was taken swiftly to the infirmary the group were ordered to spar with a partner for a half hour before dedicating themselves to working out until it was time to go to lunch.  
The dauntless workout consisted of the use of a jump rope, box jumps, single leg balances, knee dives, push ups, lunge kicks, cross crunches and sit ups, there was a set number of each part that had to be done before the full thing was classed as completed and each part had to be finished before moving on to the next, everyday of training the group had to perform this workout with a twenty five minute warm up run beforehand unless they were instructed otherwise, on this particular day however they were allowed to skip the warm up as they'd already run at least twice as much of that already.

The days when Eric was present during training there had usually been extra sets of their workout added onto their normal routine.  
When the group first started training after joining dauntless Nix more than anyone had really struggled with the routine, there were some days she was too fatigued to even complete it which she was reprimanded for, as of late however she'd come to discover that she found it to be not as challenging anymore, it was still very hard but she was able to finish it now without being unable to move her body a certain way afterwards due to it being so painful.  
At six o'clock that evening their training was over for the day, the group then like always wasted no time in heading for dinner, Adam and another dauntless member allowed them all to leave rather than stay behind to pack up the weapons on the roof to which no one had complained and left immediately.  
As they all filed out of the door that led to the roof from the stairs with some of them talking quietly amongst themselves or others excitedly discussing what might be served for dinner that day, they all simultaneously quietened when they reached the training room.

Tom was still running laps like Eric had ordered, he was drenched in sweat and moving a lot slower than he normally would have, Nix received a scowl from him as she was passing with the group.

Eric was stood beside Four when they arrived in the room and Nix found herself ushered to the back of the group as she slowed down to look at them both.

After a moment of standing still Andie urged her to move, she looked from the men to her friend and noticed that herself, Andie and Tom were the only two transfers now left in the room.  
She heard Eric tell Four that he'd be coming back in an hour to make sure Tom was still running and then he left the room without looking back.  
Nix told Andie that she'd hung back to talk with Four about something and she'd meet her in the dining hall in a few minutes, Andie had hesitated at first but she must have been hungry because she then gave a nod before leaving the room herself.

Nix waited until Andie was no longer in the room before she headed for the door herself, Four had noticed her lingering and seamed about to head her way to see what it was that she wanted but Tom started to say something that neither of them could understand and Four turned his attention to him to ask what he had said and that's when she took the opportunity to quickly sneak away.  
Once she was outside the training room she halted and just stood there, wondering as she did which way Eric might have gone.  
After contemplating which way to go along with why she even wanted to speak to him she decided to take a right and when she was about half way down the corridor she heard his voice as she was passing a doorway.  
She peaked inside the room to find him talking with another dauntless member about something that she couldn't make out, she then pulled back and glanced around, spotting an alcove across from the doorway she wasted no time in stepping into it and hiding behind a jutted out piece of the wall to wait on him appearing.

As she stood waiting she suddenly thought about what she was doing and how stupid it made her feel, she was waiting on a man that she'd thought despised her...the same man that had took her inside his apartment and kissed her this morning to then tell her that he didn't actually hate her and he'd spoken to her in a way that was pleasant rather than as if she was some parasite that disgusted him, he'd then went on to throw her out of his apartment after she'd expressed that kissing him back shouldn't have happened, she couldn't get involved with someone as high up as him when she herself was so low in status, it had only been a kiss but still...he was a leader and she was an initiate and she knew or rather just assumed that it wasn't allowed, it couldn't be allowed...whatever 'it' was or could potentially be, everyone would think he was helping her through initiation.

With a heavy sigh she placed a hand on her forehead and gave it a rub, her head hurt thinking about it all and the more she continued to think about it it almost made her laugh...the whole thing was just so ridiculous and she still couldn't quite believe it had happened, her amusement then disappeared as she thought back to what Tom had done to her...if Eric hadn't been there to stop him, what would have happened? Would she have managed to get him away from her?

He was in the top ten of the score board, she'd not seen him in a fight yet but she had seen him sparring with other initiates...he was vicious.

Eric had stopped him from doing anything further to her yet she wasn't sure he would have done anyway as they had been in a room filled with other people, he wasn't stupid enough to do something out in the open in full view of everybody.  
Despite this though the boy had still threatened her which was still playing on her mind, however, today Eric had stopped him and for that she was grateful, she wanted to tell him that.

A couple of minutes went by before Eric and the man he'd been speaking with stepped out of the room, the man went in the direction Nix had come from and Eric was heading past where she was currently hidden.

She said his name before he could disappear out of sight and upon hearing it he halted and turned around.

She stepped into view, glancing over her shoulder as she did, there was no sign of the man he'd been in the room with so she turned back to face him and found he was staring at her, he then trailed his eyes up and down her body slowly and in a brazen way.

She was unable to prevent her face from reddening and it reddened considerably, she began pulling on the hem of her t-shirt whilst swallowing and the reaction seamed to irk him because he sighed impatiently.

"What?" he asked once he'd leaned a hand against the tunnel wall and for a moment she just stared at him, she hadn't actually thought of what she was going to say to him, she knew what she wanted to say but being alone with him again made her feel awkward, eventually she inhaled to prepare herself to speak but as she did he rolled his eyes and pushed off the wall, he turned his back on her and began to walk away, "You stopped me on my way home."

She watched him walk off as she opened her mouth but she quickly closed it again and puffed out her cheeks slightly when she couldn't form the words, her legs then seamed to work on their own as she found that she'd begun to follow him, he must have heard her moving because he briefly glanced over his shoulder before facing forward once more.

"I have something to say." she finally managed to get out as she hurried to keep up with him, "It'll only take a second."

"Did you not hear me when I said you stopped me on my way home?" he replied in an annoyed tone as he continued walking.

"I heard you." she said as she followed him and she noticed that he'd picked up his pace because she was now having to half jog to keep up with him.

"Then spit it out or go away." he snapped and she cringed as his voice echoed throughout the tunnel they were moving through, she glanced around then over her shoulder incase there were other people nearby that could possibly overhear them and she really didn't want anyone questioning why she was running after one of the leaders of dauntless in her free time outside of training, when she faced forward again she was met by his chest and a gasp left her mouth as she bounced off of him to land roughly on her behind.

With an open mouth she stared up at him and he looked even more annoyed than before, gradually she closed her mouth and before she'd even had the chance to even attempt to stand back up his hand clamped around her upper arm and hoisted her back up and onto her feet.

She was once again facing his now heavy breathing chest and when she eventually risked a peak up at him she found that a glare had formed on his face.

"Sorry." she said reluctantly, he released her and she immediately stepped back from him, giving her arm a rub as she did.

"You wouldn't get in so many accidents." he said, adding extra emphasis to the last word, "If you weren't so damn clumsy."

"I thought we'd already established that what happened today wasn't my fault." she replied firmly, almost hissing the word 'wasn't'.

"Watch it." he told her and for a moment she held his gaze before she then looked at her feet in order to not say something she'd regret, there was no point arguing with him as he could easily punish her for it, she looked back up at him and as she did he folded his arms across his chest before rolling his eyes, "You had something to say."

She had to resist the urge to scoff as she replied, "I do."

"Then say it." he retorted, causing her to gasp at the abruptness and he rolled his eyes again before looking away from her, "I don't have all night."

She waited for a beat, thinking hard as she did whether or not she should even say it after him being so rude about her wanting to speak to him, did he deserve it?

Yes...yes he did, she couldn't deny it, he deserved one hundred percent of her gratitude because she was...she really was grateful for his help.

She inhaled deeply and said, "I wanted to say...thank you."

He looked at her with furrowed brows, surprise evident on his face before he said, "Thank you?"

"Yes." she replied.

"For what?" he asked.

"For...you know, helping me out earlier with Tom." she replied and his surprise changed to realisation at the mention of the candor boy, "I know that...that being in dauntless we're supposed to be fearless and the reason that we're training the way we are is so we can protect the city but he...well, I just felt...he-"

"He scared you." he finished for her and a sudden but brief silence fell upon them.

She had initially stared up at him after what he'd said but when he eventually looked her in the eye she suddenly felt ashamed and looked at the ground before giving her head a nod, "I know that I didn't deserve your help...not after what I did, the way I disrespected you infront of everyone."

She heard him scoff at her words in a way that she thought said 'that's right' but when she looked up at him he was shaking his head.

"You really thought that I'd have just let him-" he began to say, his voice raising angrily in pitch before he cut himself off and looked briefly away, she saw him inhale a deep breath before he then looked back at her and said in a low threatening voice, "I was getting ready to rip, his, spine, out."

Her eyebrows raised at what he said just as the word 'really?' was almost out of her own mouth but she managed to avoid letting that slip by replacing it with another.

"Uh." she said instead and her eyes closed briefly as she mentally did a facepalm.  
Why couldn't she have come up with something better to say or instead just say nothing at all? Now he was probably thinking that she was a moron...actually, he'd probably already thought that and she just confirmed it for him.  
What he said followed by her response repeated in her head, she looked at her feet as she inwardly cringed, why did she have to open her mouth? She should have just kept it shut and waited until he spoke again, that would have been a less stupid way to reply to what he'd said and as she thought about it again she felt a tingle in her stomach followed by her cheeks becoming warmer.

'I was getting ready to rip his spine out'.

She looked up at him as a surge of extreme gratitude flowed through her, just like it had that afternoon when he'd stepped in to help her and the corner of her mouth was beginning to lift in a smile but it vanished when she saw his expression, he looked extremely irritated now and it made her stomach sink.  
Had she...misunderstood what he'd meant by the threat?

Her confused expression must have irritated him some more as he let out an exasperated sigh, she swallowed and was about to cast her eyes elsewhere but waited when she saw him give his head a light shake, her brows were just about to furrow when quicker than a blink of an eye he grabbed her face with both hands and leaned down to capture her lips with his own.

Her eyes widened in surprise, this was not what she expected him to do, he suddenly began to walk her backwards and her hands instinctively grabbed on to his wrists as some means of support.

He kept moving her back until they were no longer stood in the open tunnel but inside another alcove...that's when he removed his lips from hers and he did it in a way as if it had pained him to do so, he then placed his forehead against hers and closed his eyes as he inhaled deeply, she watched him as he did this and saw that his jaw was now tightly clenched.

When he opened his eyes and stared into her own she swallowed, he then inhaled once more and said in a quiet and strained voice, "Damn it."

He straightened up as he exhaled and stared at a spot on the wall above her head, his hands were still holding her face and hers still held his wrists.

A moment what felt like forever passed by before he spoke again and she was surprised to admit that she was disappointed at what he said, "I shouldn't have done that."

"Yeah." she agreed, admittedly reluctantly, once he'd released her and stepped back, she then placed her own now free hands infront of her and began to nervously play with her fingers.

"There are cameras." he said and her fingers stilled, she slowly looked up at him as her heartbeat began to quicken, "In the tunnels."

"Cameras." she said in a quiet voice then let out the breath she'd not realised that she'd been holding.

"I'll take care of it." he told her.

"You'll ta-" she found herself asking but he'd stepped out of the alcove before she could even finish speaking, she quickly began to follow him but hesitated a second before leaving and when she did she noticed that he was already halfway down the corridor of the tunnel, she ran after him and when she reached him she grabbed onto his arm to stop him, she was just in the process of telling him to wait when he yanked his arm out of her grasp as if he'd just been burned.

He spun around with a deep glare on his face and demanded, "What?"

She was initially taken aback but then leaned away from him with a scoff and folded her arms across her chest, his expression didn't falter as he took in her stance and waited on an answer. That annoyed her.

She narrowed her eyes at him then proceeded to give him a hard shove in the chest and even caught off guard by it, he wasn't affected...he barely moved, all that it seamed to do was irritate him more.

"I was only asking you to wait...there's no need to be such a jerk." she muttered under her breath and his nostrils flared.

"You're calling me a jerk when I'm trying to sort this mess out?" he retorted.

"This mess?" she asked after a beat.

"Yes, this mess." he replied and indicated between them both before exhaling in annoyance.

"The mess you caused." she said after scoffing, she hadn't actually meant for him to hear it but he did.

"What?" he asked in a low voice that dared her to repeat it before he began to walk towards her.

"It's not untrue." she replied as she backed away from him, she then lowered her own voice to an almost whisper as she added, "You're the one who kissed me."

She felt her cheeks heat up once she'd said the words out loud and she was sure she saw a grin forming on his face but it quickly disappeared, he continued to move towards her and she away from him until eventually she bumped into the wall, she then swallowed when he reached her.

"You were getting ready to jump me in that training room earlier." he said as they stood toe to toe and she sputtered out a noise that was something between amusement and incredulity, she hoped that she came off as being amused because in reality she was embarrassed.

The look that he'd given her earlier had been what she thought, that he'd known exactly what she'd been thinking.

"Don't be ridiculous." she replied eventually after swallowing and looking down, "I was not."

"You shouldn't lie stiff." he told her instantly and she looked up to find him grinning down at her.

She narrowed her eyes into a glare then pressed her hands against his chest, she started to push him back as she replied, "And this isn't candor."

He huffed out a laugh as he knocked her hands away and stepped back towards her, "So you're allowed to lie?"

"Yes." she replied immediately and a smirk formed on his face as he raised his brows, her cheeks then began to heat up, "I mean no, no I mean...no, I'm not lying."

He folded his huge arms across his chest then lowered his head towards her a little as he said, "That's a lie right there."

She shook her head to which he countered with a nod, "No. I was not...going to-"

"Jump me?" he cut her off and she inhaled deeply, he let out a low chuckle at her reaction, "You were totally gonna jump me."

She swallowed as he dropped his arms and leaned one against the wall beside her head, when he grinned she looked down but looking down meant she was looking down his body and he'd probably make a comment about that, her cheeks betrayed her at the thought and caused her blush to intensify, when she looked back at his face he was trying not to laugh which indicated that he yet again knew what she was thinking about, not that it was difficult to work out...her face alone would be enough to convince him, her cheeks were now flaming.

She closed her eyes briefly then opened them with an exhale to find him smirking at her and she felt her heartbeat quicken when his tongue darted out and moved slowly along his bottom lip, she looked away from him then waited a beat before she asked, "Weren't you going to take care of something?"

His smirk suddenly disappeared and a scowl formed in it's place as he said in an accusatory tone, "You stopped me."

She scoffed and shook her head at how quickly his mood had changed, "There you go again, being...erratic."

"Erratic." he repeated in a deadpan like way.

"Yes, you're really starting to make my head spin with all these...hot and cold mood swings." she replied with a frustrated sigh and he'd made a face at the 'hot and cold' reference.

"Am I?" he then demanded and she thought she saw the hint of redness forming on his cheeks, she found that both bizarre and hilarious, she had to refrain from smiling.

"Yes." she said after a beat, "How can you be so angry with me one second and then like the flick of switch you're-"

She stopped mid sentence and he narrowed his eyes at her as he asked, "What stiff?"

"Flirting." She replied and a noise of irritation almost escaped her lips when she felt her cheeks reddening once again.

He obviously hadn't been expecting her to say that because his annoyed expression changed to entertained, "Flirting?"

"Yes." she replied without looking at him but when she saw him move closer to her she looked up, she then swallowed as she added, "And then you switch to being a grump again."

"Don't pretend you don't enjoy it." he said, ignoring the second part of what she'd said.

She stared up at him as a grin formed on his face and then she shook her head before saying in a slightly frustrated voice, "I don't."

He nodded his head at her response and she shook hers, a beat then passed by before she practically growled at him, "This isn't fair...it really isn't, it's NOT fair."

"What isn't?" he asked with slightly furrowed brows.

"It's so confusing." she said quietly and cast her eyes down.

"WHAT is?" he asked, his tone no longer amused but impatient.

"You." she replied with a sigh, "One minute you treat me like I'm...trash and the next...you're kissing me?"

A frown formed on his face and he cleared his throat before he said, "I've kissed you twice now."

"I'm aware." she replied immediately and his eyes narrowed.

"And both times you wanted me too." he said and her mouth opened in shock.

"Excuse me?" she asked with wide eyes and he scoffed.

"Don't deny it." he replied then reached a hand up to her face, he began to run his knuckles down her cheek but she knocked his hand away which made him grin, "How can you say that you wanting me to kiss you...is me not being fair?"

"I didn't want it and both those times for your information...were against my will." she said as she crossed her arms over her chest and he looked down briefly as he began to chuckle and she was sure she heard him say 'shut up'.

"They weren't stiff." he told her matter of factly then chuckled some more as he shook his head, "And you know it."

"I've said what I came to." she said firmly and made a move to walk away from him but he stepped with her and blocked her path.

"Please excuse me." she said to his chest.

"Are you seriously trying to tell me that you didn't want it?" he asked with a grin, "Both times."

"I didn't." she answered, still not looking at him.

"Stiff." he then said and in a tone that demanded her attention, she waited a beat then looked up at him to find him looking back at her with an amused expression, "Don't lie."

"I'm not lying." she emphasised each word whilst glaring at him.

"And again...you lie." he said with a shake of his head and a sigh before he shoved her backwards.

It hadn't been rough but it hadn't been gentle either, she bumped into the wall with a gasp just as he leaned one of his hands against it at the side of her head again.

A beat passed before he then reached his other hand up to her face to gently tuck a piece of loose hair behind her ear and then he smiled at her...a real genuine and beautiful smile.

"Andie will be wondering where I am." she said after what felt like forever had passed by but in reality it had only been around a minute, it had been a very long minute though, of him just staring at her with that smile on his face and it was making her stomach flutter uncontrollably.

"Do you live in each other's back pockets?" he asked after rolling his eyes.

"She's worried that I might run into you when I'm alone." she replied.

"Is that right." he said with a grin, "And yet, you voluntarily came to look for me."

"Because I wanted to thank you." she said.

He stared at her for a beat as if he was contemplating what she'd said and then a smirk gradually appeared on his face, "I bet she wishes she'd run into me...alone."

"SHE along with everyone else believes that you're planning on killing me." she said with narrowed eyes after he waggled his eyebrows at her, what he'd said annoyed her and when his smirk turned into a wide smile she knew that he'd noticed, she inhaled deeply and looked away briefly as she said, "Like I said already...I've said what I came to."

"I don't believe that you only came to find me so you could thank me." he said and she stared at him.

"I did." she replied slowly with a frown and he shook his head, "What else would I have to say?"

"Not say...do." he said.

She stared up at him for a long moment, her frown gradually turning into a glare at his implication, who did he think he was?!

"You're right." she said and he made a face as if to say 'of course I am', "Partially."

"Partially?" he asked with a brow raised.

"About the do part...it's actually another thing I have to SAY." she answered.

"Then say it." he said instantly.

"You misused your position of authority." she told him as she folded her arms across her chest.

His brows pulled together momentarily before he said, "I misused my position."

She 'mhm'd' with a nod then replied, "Twice today."

She briefly held two fingers up infront of his face and he looked from then to her face and grinned when she dropped her hand.

"Stiff." he said a beat later, that grin still on his face, "The only thing that was wrong about what I did...was that I didn't finish what I started."

Her mouth popped open at his words and he quickly added that he was talking about the first kiss...not that she needed the clarification.

"Don't you agree?" he asked in an almost apprehensive way and his grin was replaced by a sombre expression.

"You...threw me out." she replied after a long moment of silence passed between them, her tone was a mixture of confusion and what she hated to admit...dejection.

"Because you were being an irritating little prude." he retorted and crossed his arms over his chest.

She stared up at him in disbelief, more so that he looked like a child that was in a huff because he wasn't getting his own way than the fact he'd called her something that she, in her opinion, thought was worse than a 'stiff'.  
She suddenly had a reminder that he'd actually called her that once before too, when she first arrived in dauntless, that only made her more annoyed.

"You had no right." she eventually said, her tone clipped, she then began to explain that she was talking about the kiss and not the throwing her out part, it was his apartment and he could throw out who he liked and when.

Prude.

"No, that little douche Tom had no right to do what he did." he shot back over her flustering and for a beat they stared at each other before he inhaled deeply and continued with, "Now if I'd done that...that would have been misusing my position."

Prude.

What he said was true, it was, she wasn't going to admit it to him though.

Prude.

She mentally chastised herself for letting that word get to her, she hated it and after what had happened with Tom earlier today...it was beginning to let bad memories into her head.  
Prude.

She gave her head a firm shake...Eric wasn't like him.

What HE had actually called her, was a goody-goody, not prude but it technically meant the same thing...why did Eric have to say that to her.

A long moment of silence passed by before she finally said in a slightly cracked voice, "I am NOT a prude...how dare you say I am."

She made a move to walk away from him but he grabbed her upper arm and pulled her back towards him, "Oh are you not? The way that you reacted you'd think I had bent you over the damn kitchen counter!"

At his words she blushed, the image of him doing just that to her flashed in her mind and she shook her head to rid it from her thoughts then looked anywhere but him.

"Or maybe that's what you want." he said in a tone that told her he was surprised and amused, she looked up at him and he raised his brows in a suggestive way.

"Let me go." she said through gritted teeth and tried to pull away from him, he did release her but only so he could grip tightly onto her waist, he then pulled her into him so she was flush against his chest.

"I don't think you want that." he replied with a smirk.

"I'll report you." she said as she tried to push against his chest, she then let out a surprised squeak when he grabbed her under arms and lifted her feet off the ground, within a second or two he'd carried her into an alcove and set her on her feet once more so he could back her against the wall; he then placed his hands on her waist once more.

"Now why would you want to do that? Hmm?" he asked, not a grin or a smirk but another genuine smile.

She stared up at him as he moved one of his hands up her flank then back down again slowly, he then pulled himself into her so they were chest to chest, she closed her eyes briefly before opening them once more.

"Your heart is beating fast." he mused after a beat and she found herself nodding, his eyes them roamed her face as he asked, "You're not...scared?"

He asked the question in what she thought was a strained way which surprised her, she'd expected he'd be delighted if she was scared.

She wasn't scared.

"No." she answered in a breathless way which grabbed his attention, his eyes shot to her own and she inhaled deeply, "Why did you do it?"

He didn't react to the question, he just stared at her, he stared for the longest moment and then he finally replied, "Because I wanted to."

She didn't reply to what he said, she just stared at him and a moment passed before he spoke again, "I did it because I REALLY wanted to."

Another moment then passed and she tried to reply but she wasn't sure what she'd say, instead she just stared up at him some more, she stared until he pressed his lips gently against hers and held them there, he didn't move his mouth in any way, he just kept it pressed against hers and for a long moment they stayed that way.

Eventually he began to loosen the pressure he was applying until it was almost non existent and when he was about to pull back she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck.

She felt him freeze as she did this and a beat passed before he even properly reacted and what he did was dip his head slightly for her and move his hands to wrap his arms tightly around her body.

Another beat then passed before he pulled his mouth from hers and said, "We can't do this here."

"Yeah." she found herself saying as they disentangled from one another.

"My office isn't far from here." he told her and indicated with his head for her to follow him but she didn't move.

"We...shouldn't." she said with a light shake of her head.

"But we're gonna." he replied as he took her hand and began to pull her towards him, when they were out in the corridor once more she pulled her hand out of his.

"We can't do this." she said and she could tell he wasn't happy, his jaw had clenched and he inhaled deeply, "You said so yourself."

"Here...I said we can't do it here." he corrected.

She then blurted out, "Do what exactly?"

A grin appeared on his face at her reaction and he stepped towards her, "Use your imagination stiff."

She glanced at her feet as her cheeks began to heat up again and she thought she heard him begin to chuckle but when she looked up the amusement was gone from his face and he was now looking to the side frowning.

"What is it?" she asked and he held a hand up to silence her.

"Do you hear that?" he asked and she looked in the direction he was and tried to listen for whatever he could hear, at first she heard nothing but after another moment passed by her ears picked up the faintest sound of footsteps and they were coming in her and Eric's direction.

Her eyes began to widen when she saw a shadow beginning to form on the wall at the end of the tunnel a second later but before she could fully react to it Eric had spun her around so her back was to whoever was approaching, she stared up at him where he now stood infront of her with his gaze focused on the shadow, he then began to shrug out of his jacket and placed it over her shoulders.

"What are-" she began to ask but her words cut off with an exclaim as he grabbed her ponytail and all but yanked her hair tie out, his hand clamped over her mouth as he did to keep her quiet and she glared at him.

"Put your arms in the sleeves." he said without looking at her still.

Deciding in that moment not to argue, she did as she was told and she did it just as he began to, in a surprisingly gentle way, move her hair so it was hanging down her back and about her shoulders and face.

The footsteps began to grow louder followed by some chattering and that's when he looked down at her, a smile formed on his face as he reached his hands up to cup hers and she found herself unable to prevent herself from smiling back.

"Is that Eric?" Nix heard a male voice ask just as the man in question lifted her face upwards and pressed his lips to hers.

She thought he would just give her a peck until whoever was heading their way had passed by but she was mistaken because almost immediately he was exploring her mouth with his tongue.

She heard another male voice respond to the first with a comment she couldn't quite make out, whatever it was it made his companion laugh and then they were both wolf whistling.

The whole thing should have made her blush but she was surprised to find that she didn't really care in that moment to be caught engaging in such a heavily intimate way in a public place, instead she found herself gripping onto one of his wrists along with the hem of his t-shirt whilst willingly kissing him back.

She was briefly aware of the footsteps drawing closer and then she felt Eric shift her slightly, so her back was still to the people that were passing by, one of his hands left her face briefly and she felt his body shake a little, she opened her eyes in time to see him giving a hand gesture that received a hearty laugh from both of them before he was once again looking at her and she could see and feel him smirk as he continued to kiss her.

When she could no longer hear the people who passed she began to pull back from him and when she did he said, "Where do you think you're going?"

His lips were once more on hers and he was backing her along the tunnel as he kissed her some more, every few seconds she tried to pull back and speak but he shook his head and grabbed the back of her own to hold her there and she wasn't strong enough to resist.

"Interesting turn of events stiff." he said through kisses as he continued to back her down the tunnel, she was about to try and pull back to ask what he meant when he wrapped one arm around her back and lifted her off her feet, she placed an arm around his shoulders as he began to stride down the rest of the tunnel quickly, she had to move her legs to the sides to keep them from banging with his.

Before she knew it he had slammed a door closed and they were alone inside a small room, he let go of her and she landed on her feet clumsily but before she could say anything he spun her and slammed her against the door roughly, mild pain shot through her body but it was instantly forgotten about when his lips were once again on hers and this time there were no frenzied mouth movements, there wasn't even any pressure...he just held them there ever so softly.

When he pulled back from her she found that she was holding onto his waist, or rather, holding him by the waist against her whilst he had one arm resting above her head and the other against his hip, he was also wearing a smirk.

"As I was saying." he began a beat later, "It's interesting how you went from threatening to report me to...removing my clothes."

His eyes flicked to his jacket that she was wearing then back to her face and her mouth opened in a gasp at the insinuation, she let go of his waist and shoved him away from her to which he stumbled back whilst chuckling.

"YOU put this on me." she retorted and indicated to the jacket.

"And you're still wearing it." he said immediately.

She shook her head as she began to remove the jacket and once it was off she threw it at him, he looked away with a smirk as he caught it then looked back at her, she folded her arms across her chest and looked away from him and all of a sudden she became aware of the room they were in, there was a sofa against one of the walls, a large filing cabinet against another and a desk with a computer and a lamp in the middle.

This was his office.

A glare formed on her face as she realised that whilst she was distracted he'd brought her to his office, the place she said she didn't want to go...well...she didn't say 'didn't want to, she'd said that she 'couldn't', she looked over at him and found he was still smirking.

"This is your office." she said eventually.

"Keen eye you have." he replied dryly with a roll of his eyes as he tossed his jacket over the arm of the sofa.

"I told you we-" she began to speak but he cut her off.

"Shouldn't come here, yeah." he said and she stared at him, he began to walk towards her slowly, "You didn't say that you didn't want to."

"That's what I meant." she replied.

"There you go again." he said once he was stood infront of her, "Lying."

For what felt like the longest time she just stared up at him and when she opened her mouth to speak she was surprised to hear herself say, "This isn't candor."

Her words made smile, not smirk...smile.

She didn't wait for him to kiss her as he moved his head towards hers, this time she met him in the middle and they both seamed to simultaneously inhale as their mouths connected.

After a beat she opened her mouth for him and for a moment they just kissed one another deeply, he then gently placed his hands on her waist and slid them around to her back where he then proceeded to run them slowly down, he ducked slightly as they moved over her bottom to rest behind her thighs and then he picked her up.  
She removed her lips from his when she was up on his waist and they stared at one another, he then glanced over at the sofa then back at her...a silent question.

When she slowly nodded he swiftly moved with her over there then set her down gently before he lay down with her.

He began to place slow delicate kisses all over her throat and collar bone whilst he took her hands and held them above her head, "I want you to lie here and stay still whilst I...slowly...taste...as much of your skin as possible."

"Oh." was all she managed to say and it was in a breathless voice, she then felt his grin against her neck, "Please, don't...you can't do that."

"Oh but, I'm going to." he replied and then he began to kiss up her neck to her jaw, keeping his eyes on hers as he did which made what he was doing all the more intense.

"Eric you can't...I can't, we were doing team work in weapons training I...I'm sweaty." she said reluctantly and took a deep breath when she could feel her cheeks heating up.

He let out a laugh at what she said and she stared at him, what a nice sound...a really nice sound, he had a lovely laugh...he should let people hear it more often.

"I have a comment I'd love to make about that statement but I'm not sure those delicate little stiff ears would be able to handle it." he said with a wink.

She was sure she probably resembled a tomato because right now she was on fire, she really wished she could hide her face but he had her arms pinned and her reaction seamed to amuse him greatly as he laughed again and attempted to kiss her once more.

She had to bit her lip to stop herself from placing her mouth on his again and turned her head to the side so she wasn't looking at him anymore, he moved his head in her direction and planted his lips firmly against hers.

"You're only torturing yourself." he whispered against her mouth and she pulled her head away from him.

"What makes you say that?" she asked and he smiled at her.

"You don't want me to stop." he replied before placing an oh so gentle kiss on her lips, one that made her stomach flutter and then he let her arms go.

She stared at him briefly then said, "Why don't YOU want to stop? I mean, you had every intention of killing me today."

He made a face at her words as if to say 'you are correct' but he said instead, "Why would I?"

"Because before...you threw me out of your place." she replied.

He let out a sigh then said, "You pushed my buttons."

At his replication of her words from that morning she smiled then placed a palm against his cheek as she said in a soft voice, "They are easily pushed."

He half smiled then leaned into her touch briefly before he lifted his head to roam his eyes all over her face and then he said, "You're trouble...do you know that?"

"Am I really?" she asked quietly.

"For me." he stated and at what he said a silence suddenly fell upon them.

Eventually he sighed in what she believed was a mixture of frustration and contentedness before he kissed her delicately on the corner of her mouth, he then proceeded to bury his face in the crook of her neck and wrap his arms tightly around her body.

At first she was a little caught off guard at his actions but that didn't stop her from wrapping her own arms around his neck so she could hold him back and after a beat she placed one of her hands on top of his head to cup it and she felt his body relax.

A couple of minutes passed by before either of them did anything and it was her that moved first, pushing aside the weight of the words he had just spoken moments ago and what they meant she placed a hand on his shoulder and the other on the back of his head and said, "I should go."

Her voice seamed to startle him, as if he'd forgotten where they were, he lifted his head up and looked down at her to admit in what was obviously a reluctant voice, "Yeah."

She tried to sit up but he gave her a look that halted her and then he leaned into her very slowly before he placed his lips gently against hers and then he kissed her...REALLY kissed her.

He kissed her in a way that almost felt like a goodbye...if it could be called that.

She knew it was his way of telling her that this couldn't happen a third time which she already knew and agreed with yet she still couldn't shake the deep sadness that she suddenly felt because of it.

They were both breathless when he pulled back from her and once he had she couldn't bare to look at him, the emotions of the last three weeks were suddenly very pronounced and she was feeling them all at once...the choosing ceremony, leaving her family, joining a faction that was totally different from what she had known, jumping on and from trains and buildings, being thrown into intense training, Eric being very scary and less than friendly since day one, Eric grabbing her and kissing her when she thought he was going to kill her, Eric having an almost unbelievable sweet side...a side to him that she never would have imagined even existed.

What Tom did.

All of those things including the fact that she knew nothing else with him could happen again or ever at all which she didn't realise until now that that thought was devastating to her...when she came to him after training she had every intention of telling him off for kissing her that first time and then leaving, but, why didn't she just ignore it?

Was it because deep down she knew or...maybe even hoped that once she met with him he'd indeed finish what he'd started that morning?

No...that can't have been it, it had to be because she wanted to hear him say it, to say that it meant nothing and that it was a mistake and that he'd already forgotten about it.

She was an initiate and he was an instructor and a leader too and never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined this would ever happen...she always thought of him as an attractive man there was no denying that but she hadn't liked his personality and so the thought of this scenario even being imagined by her, never mind actually happening, it was too bizarre.

She knew one thing for sure...there was going to be no forgetting this day.

She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and hugged him fiercely, he didn't stop her...he held her against him with one strong arm tightly around her lower back and his other hand cradled her head.

She'd never been a big hugger or been hugged often when she was in abnegation, she didn't expect to experience it here in dauntless but where Andie came from it was a thing and she brought it with her when she joined, Mark had hugged her after she'd jumped into the net from atop that building on her first day then Andie had shown her amity side and hugged her too; Nix hadn't really been sure how to feel about it but Andie was her friend and hugging was a way of expressing friendship with another person...that was something Nix wasn't used to.

She wasn't sure how Eric felt about hugging, yeah he didn't shove her away but that didn't mean he was fond of it, she wasn't really herself but she liked it with him...really liked it.

As brief as this moment with him was there was no denying that it would go down as one of her best moments ever...just the knowing nothing could come of it made her heart hurt, in a different and much more intense way than when her brother left for candor or when she left her parents and faction for dauntless.

They stayed that way for around another minute before they began to loosen their holds on one another and then he helped her sit up on his sofa so they were sat facing each other.

She stared at him and he at her for a beat before she smiled at him and reached a hand towards

him to touch the tattoos on his throat, she traced her fingertips up and down them for a moment causing him to swallow as she did before she pulled her hand back to rest it in her lap and then she stood up from the sofa, he watched her as she rose and as she passed by him to head for the door he too stood up.

She walked deliberately slowly, not wanting to leave and when she reached the door she placed her hand on the handle and stared down at it, she felt him come up behind her as she did this and then she made a move to pull the door handle down but his hand covering hers stopped her.

He pulled her hand gently back and then wrapped his arms around her torso and pulled her into him so he was hugging her from behind, he then turned his head ever so slightly and pressed his lips against her cheek.

They stayed that way briefly before she reached forward and pulled the handle down, he released her and she opened the door, she looked out into the hallway to see if anyone was around before she turned around to face him and found that he looked angry but when her eyes met his the expression changed to something else, was he sad?

"I told Andie I had to speak to Four about something and that I would only be five minutes."

"You should just forget Andie." he replied, his tone a little firmer.

"No...I can't." she said with a shake of her head and started to walk away but he grabbed her wrist, she turned to look at him.

"Do you really want to leave?" he asked after a beat and his hold on her wrist moved to lightly grab her fingers.

"What." she said as she looked down, it wasn't a question, it was something to say so she could think of a better answer.

"You heard me." he replied and she glanced up at him, he was staring at her in a way that implored her to say what she was really thinking.

"I can't do this." she finally said but her voice was quiet, when he began to shake his head she continued, "I can't, WE can't...you know that."

"We can...you're just choosing not to." he said as he pulled his hand from hers, his tone told her he wasn't pleased with her answer and a moment passed before he placed his hands on his hips then looked away from her, "Go."

"Go?" she found herself asking.

"Go!" he shot back suddenly and she gasped, "You don't want this so go."

She stared at him for a long moment, didn't she want this?

This...whatever it was, whatever he meant it as.

She wanted to say something to him, to not ruin such a nice moment they'd shared by having him disappointed at her but what could she say?

After another beat he opened his own mouth to speak but shook his head, "Screw this."

She was certain he was going to say 'screw you' but changed his mind, he then swiftly passed her.

She gasped when his shoulder bumped roughly into hers as he left the office, she turned and saw him storming down the tunnel.

When he was out of sight she stepped out of his office, pulled the door closed behind her and leaned against the wall, letting out a heavy sigh as she did.


	14. Chapter 14

***** DISCLAIMER ***  
**

 **I own NOTHING regarding the divergent series e.g. the books/the movies  
The only things I own are my own characters that I've created.**

* * *

"You okay?" Andie asked Nix at breakfast the next morning and at the sound of the girl's voice she looked up from her bowl of cereal which was mixed with fruit that she wasn't really focused on eating.

Andie had a concerned look on her face as she waited on an answer and Nix forced herself to smile as she replied, "I'm fine."

"Yeah?" Andie asked with a sceptical look, "Because you've been quiet since dinner last night."

"I'm just tired." Nix said with a nod and it wasn't really a lie, she hadn't gotten much sleep last night, her head was sore from the events of that day and also the thought that Tom would have to come back to the dormitory eventually had her nervous as she knew that without a doubt he would blame her for him being punished; he had come back, she wasn't sure what time it was when he did though, her eyes had widened when she heard him appearing but he didn't do anything to her like she'd expected, he'd fallen not into his bed but on it outside of the covers and was asleep within minutes, knowing he was in the room with her despite there being all the other transfers too she couldn't relax and she'd been on alert for what felt like hours.

A silence fell over the girls and a beat passed before Andie spoke again, "You'd tell me right? If anything was bothering you?"

"Of course." Nix said with a nod and Andie returned it.

"Because I'm here for you...always." she said and Nix smiled at her but she had an angry expression on her face, "And if Tom so much as breathes in your direction again then I will rip his balls off."

"I appreciate it but really...there's no need." Nix replied with a half grin.

"He touched your-" Andie started to say but Nix cut her off.

"I know." she said in a raised voice and Andie stared at her, "I'd rather not think about it."

Andie gave her an apologetic look, "Yeah, I didn't think...I mean it though, he's gonna get his for that."

"Eric already gave him a warning about it." Nix found herself saying and her eyes widened a little, she then cleared her throat and looked at Andie, who thankfully, hadn't really made anything of what she said.

"Yeah, I'm glad that despite him wanting to kick your ass...he wasn't going to just tolerate that kind of harassment." she said with a nod then started to eat a bit of toast, she then...with her mouth full continued, "I guess he's not all bad."

"Yeah." Nix replied quietly.

"Morning ladies, mind if we join you?" someone suddenly asked, both girls turned to see dauntless born Mark and four other boys approaching the table they were at.

Neither Nix or Andie had a chance to respond before Mark had sat down across from Andie and once he had she turned her head to roll her eyes at Nix before saying to Mark, "Please."

"Thanks very much." Mark said with a grin as he began to help himself to some toast and eggs from the table, his four friends each greeted the girls before sitting down also, two boys sat on both sides of Mark and the other two sat on either side of the girls.

"Why, hello." Andie whispered to Nix with a grin and indicated to the boy sitting down beside her, Nix smiled then glanced at the boy beside her briefly, he looked at her as she did this and gave her a smile that revealed deep dimples.

"Hey." he said and offered her his hand, "I'm Kit."

"Nix." she replied as she gave him her free hand to shake and he gave her another smile before he released her.

She looked back at her mug infront of her after that then took another sip from it, thinking as she did how attractive she found the boy beside her.

He had a face full of dark freckles and big pale green eyes, she'd noticed before he sat down that he was of average height and wasn't too skinny but not overly muscular either, he also had beautifully thick and wavy shoulder length caramel coloured hair.

She glanced at him again and he looked at her as he was biting into a piece of toast he'd just helped himself to, he chewed a couple of times then grinned at her and she smiled before looking at Andie briefly.

The former amity had noticed her observation and had a knowing look on her face which almost caused Nix to blush but she managed to control it.

Her thoughts drifted to Eric for a moment and she found herself comparing the two, Kit had a more refined attractiveness about him whereas Eric had a rugged handsomeness.

Despite knowing how good looking Kit was it was the thought of just looking at Eric that made her stomach flutter.

"Beside Angie there-" Mark began to speak but Andie cut him off.

"It's Andie." she said and narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Is it?" Mark replied instantly with a smirk, "I thought it was Angie but whatever..beside Andie there is Taron."

Taron gave them both a nod with a smile then glanced back at Mark who indicated to the boys on either side of him then at Kit where he sat next to Nix.

"Bowen, Marley...and Kit next to Trixie there." Mark said and indicated to Nix with a wink, her eyes shot to him as the boys said their hello's.

"Nice to meet you all." Nix said to the boys across from her then she looked at Kit who gave her another grin, she looked back at Mark and said, "And it's Nix...not Trixie."

"My bad." Mark said as he held his hands up in mock defence, "I must have confused the two since you look like such a cute little pixie."

The two boys on either side of Mark seamed to simultaneously shake their heads as if in embarrassment and then they along with Kit chuckled.

"Flattery won't convince her to go anywhere near your little pixie." Andie said with a pointed look down his body and all of the boys including Mark himself howled with laughter.

Nix noticed that people around the dining hall glanced at their table in curiosity and she couldn't help but smile at Andie's joke, Andie herself smirked then winked at Mark.

"Little isn't the word I'd use honey." Mark said once the laughter had died down.

"Do you prefer tiny?" Andie asked which received a chuckle from the boys.

"Teeny-weeny?" Bowen added before Mark could reply.

"Itsy-bitsy?" Marley then asked.

"Miniature?" Kit asked as Mark opened his mouth to speak.

"Dainty?" Nix found herself asking without realising and then she let out a long gasp of surprise that she'd participated, Andie spluttered out a noise of amusement that was clearly more because of her reaction, the boys then to start to laugh along with her.

Mark held his hands up and loudly cleared his throat, gradually everyone quietened down and waited for him to speak and when he did he said confidently, "Colossal."

His answer caused the boys and the girls to start laughing loudly then he himself joined in and for a moment they just laughed, eventually their amusement faded away and they all went back to focus on eating their food.

"Are you done making comments about my phallus hippie?" Mark asked after he'd taken a drink from his coffee mug and the boys either glanced at each other or at Nix and Andie with looks of incredulity at the word he used.

"Absolutely." Andie replied as she took a drink of coffee from her own mug, some of the guys either chuckled or grinned at her answer and turned their focus to their food.

Mark then began chatting about something regarding weapons with the two boys on either side of him and Taron mentioned something about Andie's tattoo which grabbed her attention.

"How's initiation going?" Kit asked after Nix saw him out of the corner of her eye turning his head her way.

She turned to look at him and was met by another lovely dimpled smile, she was momentarily distracted by it before she managed to speak, "Not too bad, how's it going for you?"

"Good." he replied with a smile which turned into a grin as he glanced from her to across the table from them, "Best part about it is when I'm paired up with Mark in the ring, you've no idea how good it feels to kick his ass."

The boys at the table laughed, even harder when Nix commented 'I can imagine', Mark himself even laughed before and after giving her a pretend wounded expression, she shrugged with a small smile and he turned his attention back to Kit, "You only won that fight the other day because I was injured but don't worry...I'll get you back."

"Keep telling yourself that man." Kit said with a wink and Nix grinned his way, he turned his head back her way and returned the grin, "How's fighting going with you guys?"

"Well we just started yesterday but Nix, the little dark horse, she was chosen to go first...she knocked her opponent out." Andie said and smiled at Nix.

"Nice one stiff." Mark said with a nod of approval and the other two boys on either side of him also praised her.

"Thanks." she said then offered them all a brief smile.

"Wait...did you say the first fight was yesterday?" Kit asked and Andie nodded.

"You guys only started fighting yesterday?" Bowen then asked.

"Yeah." Andie replied and all of the boys shared a look with one another, "We've been sparring with one another since we first arrived but yeah, yesterday was the first time we were put against one another for real."

"We started on the first day." Marley said after a beat of silence fell over the table and Nix and Andie looked at one another.

Since day one?

It was the third week and their group had just started fighting together, the dauntless born had three weeks of practice on them.

The final part of stage one required a fight to be won between two opponents, what if the groups were mixed for that?

Nix began to bite her lip at the thought and Andie gave her a look that said 'don't worry' even though she herself looked worried, nevertheless, she caused the boys to laugh when she said, "And yet there are no marks on either one of you, what is it they are teaching you exactly? How to take down your opponent for a little roll around on the matt?"

"Just say the word hippie, anytime you want to see what we're being taught...I'd be happy to oblige." Mark said with a wink, he then spoke again and what he said caused the boys to laugh once more, Andie too and even Nix had a chuckle at his words, "Same goes for you stiff, anytime you want to uh...show off those knock out skills of yours, I'm more than willing to go rolling around with you."

"Not a chance Benson." Kit said then wrapped his arm around Nix's back and pulled her along the bench into his side, she gasped a little in surprise then looked at him as he moved his arm up to rest over her shoulders, he then looked down at her and gave her a breathtaking smile, "I'm volunteering myself for that privilege right now."

A beat passed after that and he moved his arm to around her neck so he could pull her head towards him and then he pressed his lips softly against her cheek which earned a few wolf whistles from not only their table but some others nearby as well and when he leaned back he gave her a wink.

"She'll take extra practise." Andie said enthusiastically to Kit which earned laughter from the table, Nix looked down briefly feeling slightly embarrassed but also flattered as well.

"I'm sorry." Kit's voice was suddenly in her ear, "Couldn't help myself."

She looked at him and he smiled at her, she then decided in that moment to take it as a compliment and smiled back at him, "Don't worry about it."

He winked at her again then went back to eating breakfast and talking with the others at the table and Nix was very aware that after he let his arm fall from her shoulder that he hadn't removed it from her body, it was around her waist.

Andie noticed this also and was obviously excited about it because when Nix glanced at her the former amity indicated with her eyes at her back then grinned widely.

Nix glanced away from her and bit her lip gently, she wasn't sure if she should remove his arm or not but he wasn't hurting her and it felt nice having the feeling of being held by someone.

She began to think about how it would feel to have someone else's arm around her waist though rather than the boy who was physically doing it in that moment.

She imagined Eric would be very possessive if he was to ever publicly do this with her which, she really doubted he ever would anyway, he wouldn't be gentle...his arm would probably be like an iron vice wrapped around her.

As she was thinking about him she suddenly felt uneasy, as if she was being watched, she swallowed and began to glance around the room but Kit interrupted her observations by digging his fingers lightly into her side, she giggled and jolted a little as it tickled, when she was about to go back to finishing off her breakfast he did it again and again she squirmed, she looked up at him and he was grinning at her.  
She warned him not to do it again and he promised not to with a smile, she returned it and went back to eating her food and luckily he never did it again, he also never removed his arm from around her waist still and she actually didn't mind it.

O

"Jesus Nix!" Andie exclaimed as Nix threw a hard kick to the side of her flank, she'd feigned a left hook and instead used her right leg to attack when Andie had brought her arms up to protect her face.

"Sorry." Nix replied.

"No don't be, that was great! A little sly to do it to your best friend." she said and Nix smiled sheepishly, "Good work though."

"Thanks." Nix said and just as she was about to speak again she was interrupted.

"New rule." The unmistakeable voice of Eric announced and everyone seamed to simultaneously look over at him as he walked into the training room, Nix was surprised to see him as usually if he's not in the training room either waiting on them or a few minutes after they've arrived then he doesn't show up.

Memories of the previous night began to appear in her head and it caused her to swallow, she'd not seen him since then, it felt awkward.  
"What's going on?" Andie interrupted her inner monologue to ask, a large group had just walked into the room behind Eric, Nix shrugged in response.

"I believe some of you are familiar with the dauntless born initiates." Eric then went on to say and Nix noticed he gave her a pointed look, she frowned just as he looked at the other initiates around her then nodded to the dauntless born, "Twice a week from now on the dauntless born will be joining you in training."

The dauntless born seamed pleased with what he'd said as most of them were either murmuring excitedly or smiling and laughing amongst themselves.

"When was this decided?" Four asked and most of the eyes in the room turned to him.

He didn't know?

"This morning." Eric replied without looking at him, his eyes found Nix amongst the transfers and she was positive she saw a glare forming on his face but it remained expressionless as he turned his head in Four's direction, "The display of fights yesterday was poor, I want to see how they do against real opponents."

"He means us?" Andie whispered to Nix as the dauntless born moved to join the transfers where they were gathered together, "Remember what the boys said this morning, they've been fighting since the first week, the first day! How is that fair?"

"Stiff." Eric suddenly boomed and the transfers all turned to look at her which grabbed the attention of the dauntless born too, "I assume your talking is you volunteering yourself to go first?"

Nix stared at him after he spoke and when he waved her towards him Andie began to say that it was her that had spoken but Nix shushed her then shook her head lightly.

"I presume this is my punishment for yesterday...best to get it over with." she said in a quiet despondent tone before she stepped forward towards Eric, thinking as she did, was this really him punishing her for what she did?

Even after what happened after training?

"Sam." he called out once she was at his side and the dauntless born were suddenly very amused.

"You're not serious." Four demanded in a hushed voice once he'd stepped towards Eric and Nix looked up at them both, he was glaring and Eric had a smirk on his face.

"Go on Sam." someone said enthusiastically.

"Show that stiff!" Another called out and Nix looked at the crowd, a beat passed before the boy named Sam began to move through the others towards Eric with a grin on his face, her eyes widened as he did.

He was a tall boy, maybe the same height as Eric himself or if not he was just a little shorter, he had cropped blonde hair and a cleft chin, there was also no denying that he had a lot of muscle, those wide shoulders and the arms attached to them were proof of that.

She swallowed at the thought of being gripped in a hold by those arms, he could probably win a fight by simply crushing her.

"Stiff." Sam said with a nod of his head as he approached where she stood, he then passed her to stand by Eric's other side.

Nix looked at the crowd to find Andie who was stood looking concerned and she had also been joined by Kit and Taron, they both looked equally as anxious.

"Pairing the number one initiate with someone that is below the line?" Four hissed and Sam, who'd heard him, suddenly looked smug.

"You don't think she's capable? Really Four, you saw her yesterday...she won her fight." Eric replied in a voice that feigned innocence.

"She won her fight against an initiate that is even lower on the board than she is." Four snapped and shame instantly stabbed Nix and she looked at the ground.

"This is happening...Tobias." Eric said and he used emphasis on the last word, Nix looked up at Four where he stood and noticed that he had a clenched jaw and a deep glare on his face, Tobias was his real name? Tobias...why was that familiar?

"Now if you don't want to be here to witness it."

Nix saw Eric glance over his shoulder at the entrance to the training room then looked back at Four and raised a brow at him.

"All I'm saying Eric is that Anyone looking at this will see that the odds are against her." Four replied in a clipped voice, "You're not giving her a fair chance."

"I can do it Four." Nix found herself saying, with more sharpness than she'd initially intended and Eric, Four and Sam all looked at her, she didn't reckon either of them were as surprised by the statement as she was, "Like Eric said...I won my fight yesterday."

Eric grinned at her then looked at Four whilst Sam let out a chuckle at her words and shook his head to someone in the crowd infront of them, she didn't miss him mouth the word 'easy' to them either.

"There you have it, from the stiff's own mouth." Eric said looking at Four who was watching Nix with narrowed eyes and then Eric said loudly for everyone to hear, "First fight, Sam and Nix!"

The dauntless born let out a cheer for Sam then began to move towards the ring, Sam himself then moved in the direction after grinning at Nix.

Most of the transfers began to follow the dauntless born except for Andie, she was stood watching Nix with Kit beside her, Nix gave her a shrug with a very brief and weak smile, she then turned to look at Eric who was watching her along with Four.

She looked at the ring, inhaled a deep breath then walked towards it, Kit and Andie were at her sides in seconds.

"Did you do something to piss him off?" Kit asked and there was a hint of amusement in his question.

"She walked out on him yesterday." Andie replied and Kit's eyes widened.

"That was you? We heard about it...pretty brave." Kit said and then he grinned at her, "Now I'm even more rooting for you."

She glanced at him and he gave her a wink, giving the fact she knew she was about to get pummelled it cheered her up and made her smile.

"You've got this Nix." Andie added and wrapped an arm around her briefly to give her a light squeeze.

"How naïve." a voice said behind them and all three turned around to see Eric was walking behind them followed by Four, he roughly bumped into Nix as he was passing and bumped Kit away from her in the process too.

She glared at his back as he walked away and then Four stepped infront of her, he folded his arms across his chest, "Remember Nix, defence, he's got a weight and height advantage against you, a significant advantage...you're fast though so I'd suggest tiring him out as much as you can."

"Wow Four, it's really encouraging that you have so much faith in me." she replied with a roll of her eyes as he began to head for the ring and her sudden sass surprised not only herself but him as well because he halted and turned back around to look at her.

"This will be a learning curve for you, next time you might want to think before you act." he replied and she stared at him briefly before she hung her head, he was right...this was her own doing.

"Yeah." she said quietly after a beat and he turned and headed for the ring once more.

"Listen." Kit said once he, Nix and Andie began to walk again, "I hate to sound like I don't think you can do it but."

"What?" Andie asked before she could.

"We have some really hard guys in our group." he said, his voice hushed since they'd arrived outside the ring.

"Let me guess...he's one of them?" Nix asked then turned to look at him.

Kit smiled sympathetically at her then said, "No...he's hurt them."

Andie covered her mouth with her hand and inhaled, Nix tried not to let the statement bother her and swallowed before nodding her head, "All I can do is try my best I guess."

Both Andie and Kit wished her luck which she thanked them for before she then stepped into the ring to face Sam who was watching her every move with smirk on his face.

"Are you ready stiff?" he asked as he started to bounce around where he stood, "Or do you need a little more time to psych yourself up first?"

Some of the transfers laughed with the dauntless born at this, Nix prepared her arms in the block position in preparation to fight.

"Oh she's ready to go! That's how I like my girls." he said with a wink which earned him amused cheers and whistles.

"Fight!" Eric's voice snapped angrily and at his instruction Sam's whole demeanour changed, he copied Nix's stance and began to step towards her and she found out very fast that he was quick, she'd barely managed to avoid the punch he threw towards her face.

She jumped when he ducked slightly to swing his leg towards both of her own and then he punched her in the side before her feet had even touched the ground again, she landed on her side hard and had to roll out of the way as he attempted to bring his foot down on her head.

She quickly pushed herself up then had to duck as his fists came swinging towards her face, he then attempted to uppercut her but she avoided it and countered with a punch of her own but it never connected with his face, he grabbed her wrist in one hand and elbowed her hard in the face with his other arm.

The impact knocked her onto her back and when she was down he immediately attempted to straddle her but she punched him on the inside of his thigh before he could and it caught him off guard so she shoved him backwards away from her, he landed on his behind then attempted to kick her as she was standing back up but she managed to get out of the way.

As he was beginning to stand she rushed forward and drove her knee into his face sending him backwards.

The dauntless born were very loud as they were fighting, some were cheering for Sam and the others were sending shouts of discouragement her way.

Sam was on his feet within a matter of seconds and coming at her at a frightening speed, she had no time to dodge him, he hoisted her up above him with a hand wrapped in the waistband of her training trousers and on one of the sleeves of her tank top.

She heard a rip right before he THREW her across the ring, she landed roughly on her front and nearly got the wind knocked out of her, she attempted to push herself up as she took some deep breaths but he pushed her over onto her side with his foot.

She expected him to start kicking or punching her but instead he stared at her before he began to back away, she watched him step back a few times before she pushed herself back to standing.

Her eyes drifted to Eric and he was stood with an unreadable expression on his face, she glanced back at Sam and he grinned before using his fingers to beckon her towards him, she glared at him then began to move towards him and as she approached he didn't do anything.

He watched her come towards her with that grin still on his face and then he looked at the dauntless born and shook his head, it earned him some laughs.

She took the opportunity of him not looking her way to rush towards him and then she punched him in the face, it definitely surprised him because he turned to look at her and as he did she punched him again with her other hand and then again with the first hand and as she was about to punch him with the other again, he slapped her hard with the back of one of his own hands and it caused her to stumble to the side.

He then grabbed her ponytail and shoved her down so she was bent over, he grabbed her one of her hand's and twisted it behind her back, the pain caused her to cry out but it was cut off when he moved around and kneed her in the face.

She gasped at the pain that was now in her nose and when she felt blood run onto her lip from her nostrils he let go of her, he did this by forcefully shoving her away from him towards the ground.

She landed hard on her already injured nose and exclaimed before she turned her head to the side, her vision she noticed was slightly off balance and blurry so she tightly closed her eyes for a second then opened them and when she did she found Andie's worried face in the crowd and beside her Kit had an arm crossed over his chest with his other hand covering his mouth.

She looked away from them to her hand that was a spread out on the mat just inches away from her face, the skin was broken on some of her knuckles, she then winced slightly when she closed her fist then stretched it open again.

Movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention and she looked up to see Sam was walking towards her slowly, she stared at him from where her cheek was pressed against the mat.

He bent down to look at her and she noticed as he did that he was barely out of breath, his chest was rising and falling a little but not nearly as rapidly as hers was.

"You look tired stiff." he taunted and she glanced from him back to the faces of the people in the crowd, Andie was now covering her mouth with both hands and the other transfers were watching silently, some with grimaces...even the candor transfers, except Tom, he was grinning widely.

"Finish her Sam!" someone shouted and he turned his head towards the voice with a grin.

She used all the strength she had and rolled onto her back, her body was aching and she winced when she moved.

Sam turned back to look at her where she lay and then he brought his face down to hers, "Do you need a hand getting up?"

He didn't wait for her to respond, instead, he grabbed her by the throat and wrapped his hand tightly around it, he then lifted her from where she lay up into the air so their faces were level and held her there.

At least a few seconds passed by with her clutching onto his wrist with her legs swinging beneath her and panic was rising with each seconds, she could barely breath.

She tried to swing a leg at him but before she could he slammed her into the ground, the wind was knocked out of her when her back hit the mat and she let out a loud, strangled sounding gasp.

He waited only a moment before he released her and raised from his crouched position, when he did she took deep breaths and as quickly as she could shuffled backwards from where he stood.

He watched her like an animal stalking it's prey and his eyes never left hers when she began to slowly rise to her feet, her body shook as she did this and when she was standing she swayed.

She placed a hand against her throat and rubbed gently as she inhaled and exhaled deep breaths, she then looked at him where he stood across from her.

"Damn stiff...you want MORE?" he said with a smile and she glared at him, he then nodded, "Okay then...if it's what the lady wants."

Once he'd finished speaking the smile instantly disappeared and he was running towards her, she decided to face him head on and didn't move, the second he reached her both of his arms were moving like lightning, she dodged and blocked them each time but he was relentless, every blow she managed to avoid he'd be sending another in it's place and gradually her defence was weakening so he managed to get a few hits in.

At one point she stepped back from him in order to get some space but he followed and continued his assault on her and she was beginning to get out of breath the more he attacked.

A few more seconds passed of him hitting her the same way until he suddenly changed it and drove a punch into her stomach, she hadn't seen it coming, it was so hard that she thought she might vomit.

She doubled over slightly and gasped out a cough just as he tripped her up by hooking his ankle behind her leg and knocked her onto her back once more.

She barely managed to wince when she landed on the ground before he was straddling her and punching her, over and over again.

She held her arms up at her face to protect it but that barely worked, his hits were too powerful and each time it connected with her she could feel it more and more.

After a moment of hitting at her face he began to do body shots, she attempted to prevent this but he used one of his hands to grab both of her hands whilst he punched her hard with the other.

Each hit seamed stronger than the previous and with each one she cried out, she locked eyes with Eric at one point and he looked furious.

Isn't this what he wanted? He's the one who made her fight Sam, a guy who's skill in combat was apparently staggering compared to her own, the fact that she was getting literally battered proved it...surely he should be happy with this outcome? He seamed intent on punishing her...if she wasn't so preoccupied she'd roll her eyes at the thought of his hot and cold mood swings.  
He can't be annoyed at her because she's losing, that was always going to be the result.

She looked from him to Four who was stood next to him, he was angry too and she noticed he said something to Eric before he moved in the direction of the ring but Eric responded by grabbing his arm.

Nix didn't have to hear what he said to know that he was telling Four to stay where he was.

A loud anguished scream that startled even herself rather than the others watching around the ring suddenly left her mouth and Sam instantly stopped punching her and released the hold he had of her hands.

"What the hell?" he said loudly as he moved on top of her slightly and that made the pain she was feeling even worse which caused her to cry out even louder.

Sam was off of her immediately and stepping back just as Four and Eric stepped into the ring followed by Andie, Nix placed a hand against her side and gasped in pain then let out a sob.

Four face appeared above hers, "What hurts Nix?"

"My side." she said through ragged breaths and when she tried to take a deep one she couldn't, the pain was too much, she grabbed Four's wrist and stared up at him as she began to gasp, "I can't...I can't breath."

"Yes you can." Four said, his voice was firm but he said it calmly, "Just relax...breathe deeply."

She shook her head at him then looked away as more pain washed over her, she closed her eyes briefly and made a noise before turning to look back at him, "It hurts."

Four gently took a hold of the back of her neck and raised her up a little so she was sitting, that made her pain intensify and tears rolled down her cheeks as she tried to hold back the cry from escaping her lips.

"Nix!" Andie said as she appeared at her side and she placed a hand on her face and the other around her shoulder then pulled her towards her.

Nix's face was pressed against Andie's arm and her mouth was open in an attempt to get a breath but it hurt too much to do so.

"We need to get her to the infirmary." Four said to Eric as he looked up at him where he stood above them.

Nix glanced up at him and he no longer looked angry he looked...distressed.

"Why can't she breathe?" Andie asked in a shaky voice.

"I don't know." Four replied.

"I barely touched her!" Sam suddenly said from where he stood next to Eric, "She's probably just winded."

"She's not winded asshole." Andie snapped at Sam and he didn't say anything back, he looked at his feet.

"It really...hurts." Nix said in a tight voice and when she tried to breathe in again another bout of pain shot through her body, she squeaked out a whimper and turned her face more into Andie.

"Give her to me Andie." Four said and made a move to take a hold of Nix in his arms.

"No." Eric suddenly said and Four looked at him, "I'll take her, you start the next fight."

"You want to take her." Four said a beat later, "Wouldn't you rather oversee the next fight, you know, seeing as this was your idea."

The emphasis on the word 'this' was loud and clear for all to hear, Nix glanced at Eric and saw him glare at Four briefly before he swooped in and crouched by her side.

"Continue with the fights while I drop her off." Eric said to Four and moved around to her uninjured side, he then placed his arms underneath her legs and the other around her back, she wrapped her arm around his shoulders just as his hand gripped where it hurt and she exclaimed in pain then without thinking, reached up to grab a tight hold of hair on top of his head.

He never made a noise at the contact but the way he froze told her he'd felt it and that it hadn't been pleasant, he then gave her a deep glare.

"Ow." she said to him and tried to glare back but he moved her in his arms slightly as he inhaled deeply and it caused pain to shoot through her, her expression was now contorted in pain which made him immediately begin to move towards the outside of the ring.

"Can I go?" Andie asked Eric.

"No." he said as he walked, Four and Andie followed him.

"Please, I don't want her to be alone." Andie said.

"She won't be alone, I'll be with her." Eric replied and a look of horror appeared on Andie's face.

"Please." she said a beat later more to Four than Eric.

"Don't beg amity, it's not cute." Eric said with a roll of his eyes and continued walking.

"Andie." Four said as Eric walked through the crowd and in the direction of the entrance to the training room, "You can visit her at lunch."

Nix glance over Eric's shoulder and tried to smile at Andie where she was left stood outside the ring with everyone watching her and Eric leave but every time he walked the movement caused her pain.

As he reached the doorway he adjusted her in his arms and she winced and grabbed onto the back of his neck and his eyes shot to hers, at the look he was giving her she gradually pulled her hand from his skin but the next look he gave her made her freeze momentarily before she placed it back where it was and after she did this he turned and looked ahead as he walked.


	15. Chapter 15

***** DISCLAIMER *****

 **I own NOTHING regarding the divergent series e.g. the books/the movies**

 **The only things I own are my own characters that I've created.**

* * *

"Turn around." Nix said to Eric.

"Really?" he asked with a scoff and his arms folded across his chest.

"Yes." she replied.

"Just take it off stiff." he said after smirking and she narrowed her eyes at the last word, "I don't have all day."

"You don't need to be here." she countered.

"Take it off." he enunciated each word after a beat had passed and she glared at him before she finally sighed in annoyance and began to take her tank top off.

"How are you doing?" the girl working in the infirmary asked as she appeared by the bed, Nix was in the process of slowly removing the top as she asked and each movement hurt, "Didn't you offer to help her Eric?"

Eric's eyes moved from Nix to the girl at her question and when he looked back at Nix he was grinning at her reaction, her eyes had widened.

"Be real Susie. She's a stiff...she'd probably have a heart attack." he replied.

Susie laughed at that and Nix shot him a glare before she said in clipped voice, "I don't need his help."

"Careful stiff." he warned but she ignored him and looked at Susie before pulling the top fully over her head.

"Oh wow." Susie said as she came forward to look at Nix's side, Eric had moved in closer too and when Nix glanced his he looked furious, "That must have been some fight."

"Yeah." Nix replied as she fully looked at Eric, "It was."

"What are we looking at here Susie." he demanded and Susie cleared her throat at his tone.

"I'll need to do an X-ray but my guess is a possible break or fracture, that's why it hurts to breathe." she replied to them both but she was looking at Nix as she said the last part, "I'm guessing it doesn't hurt as much as it did now though right? That's one of the good things about erudite, their pain medication is fantastic."

"A break or a fracture." Eric repeated, ignoring the rest of what she'd said and then he blew out a breath.

A beeping noise came from the watch Susie wore on her wrist, she looked at it and gave the face a tap.

"I'll be back in a second, I just need to do something real quick." Susie said before she disappeared.

Nix was now left alone with Eric and a beat passed before she clasped her hands nervously in her lap, enough time had passed now that she had gotten used to dressing and undressing in-front of the other initiates but with Eric it was different, being in just her sports bra before him had her feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"Don't let me keep you." she eventually managed to say and his gaze was suddenly on her.

"You should have been defending yourself better." he said in a displeased way and she stared at him in disbelief.

"I WAS defending myself." she replied and he narrowed his eyes at her.

"Watch your tone stiff." he all but hissed.

"You watch yours." she snapped and his eyes widened in anger, "Stood there lecturing me about defending myself."

An uncomfortable silence suddenly filled the room and Nix swallowed, he was glaring at her as if he was getting ready to explode but when he spoke his voice was unnervingly calm, "Did you really expect praise? For that show? It was embarrassing."

"What's your problem?" she demanded after a beat, she then looked down at her hands in her lap briefly then back up at him, "After yesterday-"

"What?" he cut her off, "You thought that you'd just get away with what you did?"

"No." she shot back, "I knew there would be consequences but I thought...or it SEAMED that you'd maybe care enough about me to not set up a fight where the outcome was indefinitely going to be me getting pummelled."

She inhaled deeply after speaking then looked down so she could let it out, her chest had constricted with each word she'd said and despite the pain meds being helpful it still made her short of breath.

When she looked up at Eric once more his fists were clenched by his side and his glare seamed even harder, "You had to be taught a lesson."

"Did it please you to see me getting beat up?" She asked a beat later and he didn't answer, "If it did then why didn't you just do it yourself? You had the chance yesterday...no one would have known or cared."

"Yesterday." he began then stared at her for a moment before continuing in a low voice, "I had other things on my mind."

Immediately she felt her cheeks beginning to redden at his words and she looked at her hands again whilst she shook her head, "And today you didn't?"

He didn't respond to her and for the longest time she avoided his gaze before she eventually looked at him again, he looked angry again, extremely angry.

She sighed and said, "What exactly is it that I've done to annoy you? I hadn't even seen you today until you came into the training room with the dauntless born."

"The dauntless born." he said whilst nodding his head with a sardonic smile and she stared at him with a confused expression, "Did you like that? When I brought your little boyfriend in to see you?"

Her mouth opened and her brows furrowed at his words, boyfriend?

"What?" she asked after a beat.

"Sorry Nix, I meant to only be a couple of minutes but a doctor from erudite arrived." Susie said as she suddenly appeared.

"That's okay." Nix replied and smiled weakly at her.

"Is...everything okay?" Susie asked as she looked between Nix and Eric.

"Fine." Eric replied immediately without looking at her and she looked at Nix who nodded at her then looked at her hands again, "If anyone comes to visit her, get rid of them."

"Um...why?" Susie asked with furrowed brows and Eric turned to look at her, a glare on his face, she held her hands up, "Whoa! I'm just asking, you know, in-case I need to worry that someone might come in here and try to hurt her."

"That won't happen." he replied firmly and Susie was a little taken aback, he then looked from her to Nix briefly before looking back at her and continuing, "No visitors...understand?"

"Sure." Susie said after a beat and Eric swiftly disappeared from the room, she looked over at Nix with a raised brow, "He's not allowing your friends to visit you? You must have done something to piss him off."

"I only have one friend." Nix replied as Susie headed over to a large wheeled device, she moved it towards Nix's bed.

"Let's get you that X-ray." she said and held her hands out to to her.

o

"Ouch." Nix said as Andie squeezed her in a tight hug, the girl immediately pulled back and apologised, "It's okay, I'm just a little tender."

"Are you okay though? Can you breathe again?" Andie said as she held her by the shoulders.

"Yes, I'm fine." Nix replied.

Andie nodded, "Let's get you back to the dorm."

"The dorm? Why?" Nix asked.

"So you can rest." Andie replied.

"Uh, no...I can't do that, I need to get back to training." she said.

Andie stared at her wide eyed, "You can't be serious? You have broken ribs!"

"Slightly fractured." Nix corrected and looked at Kit, "You can tell Sam he's not as hard as he thinks he is."

Kit shook his head with a smile and looked at Andie who shot him a dirty look and his smile vanished, she then looked between them both and said, "This isn't funny...he could have killed you."

Nix made a face, "Come on Andie...that's a bit dramatic."

"Oh is it? If you did have broken ribs, they could have punctured something inside." she replied and indicated to Nix's torso, "Then you could have died."

"But that didn't happen and...I'm not dead." Nix said and grinned at them both, Kit grinned back but Andie's expression was sour.

"You're not going back to training Nix, you're going to go back to the dorm and rest." the former amity girl said.

"I'm hungry." Nix replied, ignoring what she'd said.

"Me too! Lunch?" Kit said.

"Yes." Nix nodded.

"Uh no, you head to the dorm and I'll bring you something to eat." Andie said and tried to lead Nix away but she moved out of her way.

"Andie, I asked Susie if I can go back to training and she said yes." Nix said and Andie looked at her sceptically, "She did."

"Firstly...who is Susie? And secondly, you're a terrible liar." she replied.

Kit chuckled then told Andie, "Susie works at the infirmary."

"I'm not lying Andie." Nix said and the girl looked at her with a raised brow, "I just...altered the truth a little."

Kit chuckled again and shook his head, Andie nodded and said, "Yeah...that's lying."

"Well I say I altered the truth but there's not really a truth...it's more of a statement, she advised me to rest." Nix began to explain and Andie gave her an 'I told you so' expression, "But...she did say I can go back to training if I take it easy and if I wear something to protect myself."

"And what would that be?" Andie asked.

Nix shrugged, "I don't know, she just said protective gear...I'm guessing Four will know what that is."

"Four will probably throw you out and tell you to get to the dorm and rest." Andie replied and folded her arms across her chest.

Nix let out a moan, "Come on Andie, you know I'm one of the worst initiates here."

"No you're not." Andie said with a shake of her head.

"I am, you know I am and everyone else now knows it too as they saw me lose...epically. I can't afford to fall any further behind now...that would please Eric too much." Nix replied.

Saying that last bit out loud and so bitterly wasn't intended but she couldn't help it due to what he said to her when he was in the infirmary with her.

Kit nodded his head and Andie elbowed him as she said, "Screw Eric. This is his doing."

"Not really...it's my own." Nix replied and made an 'oops' face at Kit.

"You walked out of training." Andie said loudly in exasperation and crossed her arms over her chest, "And THIS is how he got you back for it."

She gestured to Nix then let out an annoyed sigh before she spoke again.

"I think we can all agree that this, it was a pretty fucking evil thing for him to do." she snapped.

"Amity." a voice called out loudly and Andie gasped with fright as Nix jumped a little, Kit just turned around then looked at Andie.

"Oops." he said with a grin to Nix then tried not to laugh, Andie's face had gone red and she looked at Nix.

"Do you think he heard that?" she asked and Nix shrugged then exhaled, he definitely had heard it, no doubt about it.

He was striding towards them and when he reached them he looked Nix up and down briefly before saying to Andie, "What are you and Kim doing here?"

"Uh, actually Eric...it's Kit." Kit corrected with a smile.

"I don't care." he said firmly and Kit's smile vanished, he then looked at Andie and said, "Well?"

"Uh...well we were just about to take Nix back to the dormitory." she replied after a beat.

"I told Susie not to allow her visitors." Eric said and indicated to Nix with his head but didn't look at her.

"Yeah why did you do that?" she asked and tilted her head to the side so he could see her, Andie used her hands to straighten Nix up and then put her arm around her shoulder.

"We waited on her getting out." Andie replied then let out a brief nervous laugh, "And as you can see it's a good thing we did because...whatever medicine she was given seams to have thrown her off balance."

"What?" Nix found herself asking.

"You're lurking in the tunnels." Eric said.

"Yeah so we'd better get going, get this one to bed." Andie replied.

"I already told you I don't want to rest." Nix said with slight anger in her tone and almost stumbled, she then tried to shrug Andie off as the girl took a hold of her arm, "I'm hungry."

"Kit, little help." Andie said to the dauntless born initiate, ignoring Nix, Kit then took a hold of her other arm with one hand and placed his other one on the small of her back.

"You're wasting your lunch break." Eric said with a snarl and he then swiftly removed both Kit and Andie's hands from Nix and grabbed her upper arms from behind, she protested at the slight pain he caused her but he ignored her, "Get going, I'll escort the stiff back to the dormitory."

"Oh but Eric-" Andie began to say but he started to walk Nix forward.

"Move." he called over his shoulder, "Or I'll take points from you both."

Kit was the first to move and Andie tried to grab and stop him but he countered it by grabbing her instead and pulling her with him.

"Kit stop!" Andie snapped at him, "Eric hold on, I don't mind missing my lunch break, I can take her back."

"I won't tell you again." Eric said firmly to her, "Go."

He then continued pushing Nix forward and she had no choice to let him because her head was spinning quite a bit, she heard Andie protesting to Kit somewhere behind her but her voice gradually faded away the further they walked.

"I can get to the dormitory myself." she eventually said after they'd been walking for around a minute or two in silence, "I'm sure you have more important things to be doing."

"Shut up stiff." he replied but it wasn't in a nasty tone, it was said in an almost bored way.

"I don't want to go back to the dorm to rest, I want to eat food." she said feeling suddenly angry and stopped dead, he walked into the back of her then gave her a hard shove and she stumbled forward away from him, she scoffed then turned to face him and he was stood with both fists clenched at his sides, "What is your problem?"

A deep frown appeared on his face at her demand, "Initiates thinking they can get away with talking to their superiors in that tone for a start."

"And what else?" she said immediately and took a step towards him, "Hm? If that's for starters...what else?"

He stared at her for a long moment then started walking towards her, she braced herself for whatever he might do but he walked by her, "I don't have all day stiff, hurry up."

"I already told you I can get to the dorm myself." she called after him and he stopped walking, she watched him inhale then exhale slowly before he turned to look at her, they stared at each other for a beat before she crossed her arms over her chest and said, "You can go."

His eyebrows raised at her words and then she saw him begin to smile before he looked away then shook his head, when he faced her again the smile was gone and in it's place a glare, "Move."

She frowned at him then told him firmly, "No."

She could see his jaw clench from where she stood and when he spoke his voice was low and threatening, "You don't want to piss me off stiff."

"Oh I haven't already? Could have fooled me." she replied with a scoff and rolled her eyes at him.

"Did you just roll your eyes at me?" he asked in a chillingly calm voice a beat later.

"I'm going to the dining hall." she told him with a sigh then turned but before she could move he appeared in front of her, she swallowed as she stared at his chest and then she hesitantly looked up and took a step back from him.

He had a deep glare on his face as he stared down at her, "You'll do as your told and follow me."

"No I won't." she replied annoyed and then looked at her feet when her words seamed to make him even angrier, "I'm entitled to a lunch break...and I'm hungry so, if you'll excuse me."

She attempted to walk around him with her head down but he grabbed both her upper arms and halted her, she gasped and looked up just as he brought his face down close to hers, so close their noses were almost touching, "You're going to follow me."

They stared at each other for a long moment before she glared at him, "No I'm not, I don't want to."

She could see he was getting irritated by the way he straightened back up and she was grateful he was no longer in her face but he hadn't let her go yet, "You can either follow me or I'll carry you."

Her eyes widened at his words and she stared up at him open mouthed, he raised an eyebrow at her as if to say 'what's it gonna be?', she eventually managed to find her voice and said, "No you won't."

A smirk gradually appeared on his face after she spoke and she swallowed, she shouldn't have said those words...she knew that but, she couldn't help it, he'd annoyed her.

She let out a shriek as he suddenly let her arms go, bent down and swept her off her feet onto his shoulder which caused her to then gasp in pain.

Once he straightened up he tightened his hold on the back of her left thigh and when he began to walk she grabbed onto the bottom of his jacket and underneath his left arm.

"This is outrageous." she managed to say to him and she had to try really hard to not shout and scream, instead she let out an angry groan which amused him because he began to chuckle, it was low but she heard and felt it, it reverberated through his body, "Put me down."

"No." he replied instantly, "And by the way...we call it the 'mess hall' here, not the dining hall."

"I'll scream." she warned, ignoring what he'd said and he scoffed.

"I don't think you will stiff." he said and she narrowed her eyes at the ground, "I gave you a choice...and you challenged me."

He gave her body a shake after he finished speaking and she leaned up a little and tried to look at him but she couldn't, she groaned again in annoyance before she said, "Being upside down makes me dizzy and nauseous."

"When have you ever been over someone's shoulder?" he asked and she was sure she could hear what she thought was light teasing in his tone but still the question annoyed her.

"I meant in general Eric." she replied with emphasis on his name.

"You're not really upside down though." he said to her then before he spoke again he loosened his hold on her and she started to slide down his back, she cried out in fright and held her hands out to break the fall but it never came, she stopped abruptly as he gripped onto her tightly, he then continued speaking, "But now you are."

"Pull me up." she snapped angrily but he continued to walk with her dangling down his back as if she was some cloak he was wearing, "Before you drop me on my head! Eric!"

He began to laugh a little and then gave her a hard tug so she was yanked back up and onto his shoulder once more, it caused her injured ribs some minor pain but she never made a noise to show it, she didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

"Why did you do that?" she demanded as she tried to hit him with the hand she had been holding under his arm with but he grabbed her wrist before she could do anything.

"It was a joke, lighten up." he replied and she felt his hold of her wrist loosen a little but he never let go.

"You joke?" she asked sarcastically and he scoffed.

"I'll ignore that comment stiff." he told her and her eyes popped open when the hand that was on her thigh began to trail up and over her behind, then on further to the bare skin of her lower back, "Your top has ridden up."

She shoved herself up and quickly used her free hand to pull her top back down into place, she covered his hand as well in the process which amused him but she grabbed his wrist and shoved it away then grabbed onto the bottom of his jacket again for support.

He began to move his hand back once more but instead of continuing to place it back on her thigh, he ran it slowly over her behind a couple of times.

She was so shocked she was momentarily lost for words before she clenched her fists and said, "I will hurt you Eric."

He started to laugh and it echoed through the tunnel they were walking through, her eyebrows raised in surprise at how nice it sounded.

"Benson obviously didn't see you from this angle stiff, if he had he would have made a different comment." he replied then gave her behind a slap.

She let out an outraged gasp at his actions thinking, who did he think he was?!

It hadn't been that hard but it had stung...enough that she felt the urge to give it a rub.

She hit his back with her fist and he chuckled as he grabbed the back of her thigh again then picked up his walking pace.

She thought back to what Mark had said that first morning at breakfast before training, 'you'd be lucky if you could even call what you have an ass'.

What Eric just said was...a compliment? She wasn't used to being complimented but she was pretty sure that had been one.

She found herself blushing as what he'd said replayed in her mind, she then bit her lip before giving her head a light shake, regardless of it being a compliment it was also demeaning, especially due to the fact that he'd slapped her!

The more she thought about it, the more annoyed she became by it, throwing her over his shoulder had really vexed her.

"You know this is what the cavemen did right?" She asked him in a bitter tone.

"Cavemen?" he asked with a hint of amusement.

"Yes, cavemen, they were brute's and men were supposed to have evolved from that." she replied and gave him a hard jab in the back, "Obviously not."

"You know about cavemen?" he asked and she could hear in his voice that he was surprised.

"Yes." she replied immediately, his surprised tone had irritated her, erudite weren't the only faction that went to school, "I paid attention in history."

"Interesting." he said a beat later and she rolled her eyes and leaned up a little.

"Stop." she said quickly and when he ignored her she gave his back a hard pat, "Eric, stop."

She gripped onto his jacket tightly then grabbed his hand when he turned a corner and began to climb some stairs, it was very nerve-wracking bobbing back and forth the higher he climbed.

She let out a sigh of relief when they were on flat ground again and then she spoke, "Eric, we passed the dormitory."

"I'm aware of that stiff." he replied dryly.

"You said you were taking me to the dorm." she said.

"I told your friend I was taking you to the dorm." he told her as he walked and she turned her head to the side then gasped, she recognised this corridor.

He stopped walking a moment later outside a door then let go of her hand to reach into his pocket, he pulled out keys and she groaned and let herself flop back down so she was staring at his back once more.

He unlocked the door, opened it then walked inside, closing it behind them.

They were inside his apartment.

Again.


End file.
